Flesh and Blood revisited: Gemini
by Cyblade Silver
Summary: Takaya and Shinya Aiba: twins divided by a cruel fate. Sometimes, however, fate can be more kind...
1. Roaring Twin Stars

_**Disclaimer:** I am not affiliated in any way with Tatsunoko Productions, and this work of fanfiction is not for any purpose but the enjoyment of myself and my fans. Now, I don't know if I'll continue this particular story, since I mostly did this for fun, but here it is: the "uncut" version of Teknoman: Flesh and Blood: "Star Knight Tekkaman Gemini"._

**Gemini**

They were in the thick of the invasion now, and Takaya seemed to be retreating further into himself the closer they got to Earth. Shinya wasn't sure what he could do to help his brother, but he knew that if the Radam's beasts all around them suddenly decided to attack, the two of them were going to die, and not quickly, either. Shinya didn't intend to lose his last brother, not on top of everything else he had just lost.

"Ta-kun, we've got to get out of this escape pod. The Radam will find us out soon, and I really don't want to be just a Primary Body when they do. We'd be nothing but meat to them," after he finished speaking, Shinya wondered just how he had known what a Primary Body was.

"You're right, Shin-chan," Takaya said dully. "We would both die if they found us now."

Nodding, Shinya pushed against the wall of the escape pod and slowly rose to his feet. It was going to be a long, hard battle, Shinya knew, and he just hoped that neither of them would have to face off with any Tekkamen right now. He didn't think Takaya could deal with that right now, and Shinya wasn't even sure that _he_ could deal with having to do that right now.

There was only so much a human mind, or for that matter a human heart, could deal with in such a short time. Takaya could just make out the far outer edge of the Orbital Ring, and the horde of Radam's beasts that were attacking it. Then there was no more time for the twins to sit back and plan a strategy, as a small swarm of Radam's beasts came charging straight at their erstwhile shelter.

Focusing, both twins managed to do something that they had never done before in all their lives: Shinya and Takaya both managed to pull their tekkasets out of subspace. Takaya's was emerald green, the same color as his eyes in fact. Shinya's was a bright sky-blue, and it was like his brothers in the fact that it matched his eyes, as well.

"Teksetta!" both brothers shouted at the same time, holding their crystals aloft.

Words and willpower alike became the catalysts for the crystals to transform Takaya and his brother Shinya into the most powerful warriors that Earth would have on its side for quite some time. As the almost rudimentary armor of a Primary Body was covered over and enhanced by that of a real Tekkaman, both twins readied themselves for the fight of their lives.

The escape pod that had carried them to the outer edge of Earth's orbit couldn't handle the massive outpouring of energy from both transformations, and so it ended up as little more than burning spaceborne shrapnel. Once the transformations were done, Tekkaman Varis and Tekkaman Blade began cutting their way through the massed Radam creatures that had surrounded them.

There were no words exchanged between the two of them; no time. But the brothers instinctively watched out for each other; for Takaya it was keeping a promise to their father, and for Shinya it was keeping his and Takaya's mutual promise. Their fight had eventually moved onto the Orbital Ring, after they had slaughtered their way through about two dozen of the Radam's beasts.

They were now moving about on the Orbital Ring itself, running and jumping and dodging across the uneven surface beneath their feet. It was nice to be able to feel gravity again, Varis reflected, then he leaped out of the path of a spray of venom from one of Radam's beasts.

"Shinya," Blade's voice came through the speakers in Varis' own helmet.

"What is it?" Varis asked. Blade had sounded uncertain, as if he didn't quite know how his brother was going to react to what he intended to say.

"You're the only one left; my Shin-chan."

"Forever, Ta-kun," Varis said, smiling even though he knew that Blade wouldn't be able to see the action.

Another swarm of Radam's beasts forced the twins apart then, but rather than fight their way back together, Blade and Varis decided that the best way to get rid of this group was to start at opposite ends and _then_ fight their way back together.

"Worthless Radam!" Varis sneered. "You won't escape from me!"

Meanwhile, far enough away that he couldn't have picked up on Varis' short-range transmission, Blade was just starting to deal with the Radam creatures that had the misfortune to be attacking him. Blade leapt forward, gazellelike, ripping into his opponents with lethal ferocity.

Blade snarled, jamming the sharp point of his double-ended tekkalance into the Radam creatures mouth, then he used his superior strength to flip the thing over on its back. Jabbing his tekkalance into the soft, fleshy underside of the Radam creatures head, Blade finished the job.

That was when he noticed the other Radam creatures that was bearing down on him. He whipped the wounded Radam creature up and over his head, smashing it into the oncoming Radam creatures. Once they were both incapacitated, Blade rammed his way through them.

"I will crush your evil ambition, right here in outer space!" Blade snarled. "With my brother by my side; we're invincible!"

Back at his end of the fight, Varis was also hacking his way through a persistent swarm of Radam creatures.

"Die, Radam scum!" with those words, Varis focused. "You'll never reach the Earth!"

Varis had found out about this ability of his tekkalance almost immediately after he had summoned it. The two ends of his lance folded into themselves; then they launched, trailing an incredibly destructive ribbon of energy behind them. The tekkalance, trailing its ribbon of energy, tore through his enemies like they were nothing.

_[Brother, are you all right?]_

_[Yes.]_

Telepathy was a completely new experience for Varis, but at the same time he had been almost prepared for it. Varis decided that that must have been another side effect from what he had been through in the tekkapod. _[Are _you___ all right, Ta-kun?]_

_[I am, Shin-chan.]_

Varis nodded. There were more Radam beasts to be destroyed, though, so as much as he might have preferred not to have to, Varis dragged his focus back to the battle at hand. The gap between the two brothers was getting narrower, and Varis waved to Blade as the Radam beasts were cleared from his line of sight. But the hordes seemed endless, and for every two or three of Radam's beasts that they managed to destroy, five more came to take their place. But something worse was waiting for the two boys, something _much_ worse.

It was Varis who managed to catch the first glimpse of their new adversary, but only because he had turned to grapple with one of Radam's beasts that had tried to blindside Blade. Standing almost casually a few yards ahead of where the twins were engaging his forces, perched atop a tall spar, tapping the flat of a sword-like longbow against his left palm, was a demonic looking dark green figure.

Another Tekkaman. The Radam creatures cleared a path for the three space warriors, having at least enough intelligence to know that they didn't want to be in the way of any of the attacks that were about to be launched.

"Hello again, dear _friends_!" Dagger shouted, laughing madly as he flew, his bow raised for a killing blow.

Varis squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to remember just whose voice he was hearing. _Damn it. Why did it have to be _him_?_

If the vacuum of outer space had been capable of transmitting sound waves, it would have echoed with the sounds of crashing metal as Dagger and Varis rammed into each other. Pivoting on one foot Varis kicked Dagger in the face, forcing them apart. As Varis and Dagger circled, each looking for an advantage over the other, Dagger suddenly leapt forward and slashed with his longbow.

The edges of the bow were sharp as razors, and Varis just barely managed to dodge out of the way before the tip could pierce his throat. Pulling his lancer out again, Varis parried Dagger's next stab. Blade had been overwhelmed by a group of Radam's beasts, and so wasnt able to come to the aid of his brother; at least, not for the moment. The clang and crash of alien steel went unheard in the absence of an atmosphere, but both Tekkamen could feel the shock of the blows as they traveled up their arms.

Slashing the monsters in his way apart with his tekkalance, Blade made his way closer to where Varis was fighting; he would never leave his younger brother to fight alone.

He noticed the laser satellites firing, but he had no time to think about that; there was nothing he could do about the lasers without leaving Varis to Dagger, and that was something that he would never do. Not just because he had a promise to keep, but because Varis- _Shinya_, was all he had left.

Feinting another stab at Varis face, Dagger reoriented quickly and drove the point of his bow deep into Varis' calf, almost severing the bone. Varis screamed; every nerve in his leg feeling like it was on fire.

"Sorry, Evil, but I have to kill you now," Dagger laughed as he grabbed Varis' armored collar-piece, drawing back his bow and preparing to drive it into Varis head. "Don't be sad; you'll die with Blade."

"Shinya!" Blade screamed, shrugging off the remaining Radam creatures before they could overwhelm him again.

Rushing over to where his brother was, Blade hit Dagger like an out-of-control locomotive, driving the green Tekkaman backwards for as long as his momentum held out. Dagger, not having the patience to deal with an irate Blade, twisted aside and stabbed Blade in the face. Blades armor took most of the force of the blow, the outer covering shattering, but somehow the inner layer remained intact.

So Blade didn't suffer from explosive decompression on top of everything else. Dagger looked back at his target, just in time to catch Varis' punch full in the face.

"Bastard!" Varis raged.

Leaping forward, Varis stabbed Dagger deep in the left shoulder, before flying past the evil Tekkaman to try and help his brother. Dagger, thrown off balance by Varis' sudden reactions, struggled to reorient himself. He knew that the traitors would probably die before they reached the planet's surface. Or they would perish when they hit the ground, given how fast they were both moving.

"Goodbye, traitors," Dagger said, his words lost to the void.

I

_This won't happen! Never! I won't lose him! Not Takaya, not any more of my family!_

Varis flew, faster than he had ever flown before, faster even than when he had been fighting the Radam beasts alongside his brother. Blade was still just ahead of him, but Varis was closing the distance between them with desperate speed.

Just out of arm's reach now, Varis managed to put on one last burst of speed, just enough to get him close enough to put his right hand around Blade's waist. Completely wrung out now, all Varis could do was attempt to slow down Blade's descent in any way he could think of.

_[We're not going to die here, Shinya,]_ Blade said, sensing his younger brother's consciousness beginning to fade from his awareness. ___[It's not time for us to die!]_

_[I wont... die here, Ta-kun...]_ Varis said; Blade could sense his brother slipping away. _[I... promise.]_

Blade could see the ground rushing up at them, ground that they would hit like a meteorite unless he did something. Blade knew that Varis wasn't in any shape to do anything about that, but Blade's problem was that _he_ wasn't in much better shape himself. The ground was even closer now, and Blade could even see just where he and Varis were going to hit: it was an empty patch of desert, the kind that no one at all seemed to care about.

They were probably only ten feet up by now; only ten feet between them and the hard, unyielding rock and dirt. Less, now. Blade wondered if he would feel it when they hit, or if he would black out just before it happened, like Varis had. Six... feet left... Five... Four... Three... Two... _One._

The impact itself was a maelstrom, an endless instant of flying dust and exploding rock. As both their energy reserves reached critical, the twins instinctively transformed out of their armored forms in order to survive. All of the rage and the adrenaline that had been the only things keeping Takaya from passing out were slowly but steadily draining away, leaving him weak and dizzy in their wake. He saw the ground coming up swiftly as if to hit him, and Takaya knew that he was falling.

For a long time after that, Takaya knew nothing more

II

Coughing, Shinya spat. A small trickle of blood ran out of his mouth, and Shinya wiped it away with the side of his left hand. Looking at the unconscious form of his brother lying collapsed in the dust beside him, Shinya noticed that there was a slowly growing puddle of blood forming on the left side of Takaya's head. Lifting up his brother's body, Shinya saw the shallow cuts that nearly bisected Takaya's left eye.

"Damnit," he muttered.

They _were_ in fact shallow, but they were also bleeding very enthusiastically. There was nothing that could be done for his brother out here, with no bandages and no water, Shinya knew. Pulling Takaya's left arm over his shoulders, Shinya slowly rose to his feet, wrapping his right arm around Takaya's waist to help steady him.

There was a thick cloud of dust that covered everything, making it harder for Shinya to breathe than he would have liked. The cloud seemed to be getting thinner up ahead, but Shinya thought that that could be just wishful thinking on his part.

III

Noal Richards, nee Veruse, and Aki Kisaragi, who had been sent by the Outer Space Development Group to collect more samples of the alien plants that had sprung up all over the planet, stood staring into the deep crater that now graced the Arizona desert.

"Wow; that was one hell of an explosion," Noal said, clearly still a bit shell-shocked.

"It looks like it was some kind of a meteor," Aki stated.

"Yeah, you're right. Well, we'd have to call it a _meteorite_, now, since its landed. It couldn't be the aliens; they'd never attack their own plants like this. Anyway, with all the damage down there, not even a _cockroach_ could have survived."

"Wait," Aki said, shining her flashlight down into the crater, moving it slowly back and forth as she searched for something.

"What is it, Aki?"

"I think I saw something down there," she said. "I'm almost sure of it."

Giving the lie to Noal's earlier assertion, moving shapes were glimpsed through the thick cloud of dust that had been thrown up by the impact. Before the dust cleared, all that could be seen was a large, blurry, moving figure.

"What is that?" Noal wondered aloud, turning to look at Aki. "Some kind of new alien?"

A breeze cut through the dust then, revealing that there were actually two people.

"Wait- is that... Are they, _human_?"

The one on the left was supporting the other one, who seemed to be bleeding rather badly. Finally, just as Noal had pulled out his gun and was about to start demanding answers, both of them fainted. The one on the right collapsed first, pulling down the other who had been trying to support him. Sliding down into the crater, Aki heard Noal calling for her to wait for him, but she was in the grip of her momentum now and couldn't have stopped even if she tried. Aki got as close to the two new people as she dared.

Now that all the dust was no longer concealing them, Noal and Aki could now see that the people were completely naked. They were also both very obviously male, and Aki made sure to keep her gaze above both boys' waists. They both had long hair, even a bit longer than Noal's, but both of these boys had black hair as opposed to Noal's blond.

Aki rushed over to them. Noal, thinking that someone who was unconscious and so badly injured couldn't be that much of a threat, followed Aki after holstering his gun.

"Who are they?" she asked.

"Beats me. Do you think they're actually human?"

"What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Aki: they come walking out of a huge crater with nothing on, apparently no way of having gotten down to earth in the first place, and with no injuries on one of them. All those things strike me as being just a little suspicious. I mean, who's to say that these two guys aren't working for the aliens?"

"Noal, that makes no sense. The aliens haven't ever shown any kind of interest in humans; I don't see why they would start now. Now come on; these two need medical care right now."

"All right, Aki," Noal said tolerantly. "Just don't say I didn't warn you. I'll go get some blankets from the Polaris, you just see if these two are more injured than they look."

"Right."

With a nod, Noal turned and walked back over to the Polaris. He hadn't been prepared to find anything like this when he had first been ordered to go and collect those much-needed samples by Chief Freeman. The rest of the Outer Space Development Group had either been busy or hadn't been suited for the task, and Noal knew that he had been asked to go out not only because he was the best pilot that the Outer Space Development Group had, but also because he had been pretty much at loose ends when they had needed him.

Stepping back into the Polaris through the aft door, Noal stepped out of the airlock and came into the hallway that bordered it. There were two doors that could be used to get into the ship, but the other one led into the back of the cockpit, and the emergency supplies were stored in the mid-aft section. Once he was inside the room he had been looking for, Noal made his way past the ration packs and picked up two of the neatly-folded blankets.

The blankets themselves were heavy cotton, good for insulating a person from the cold. There were only the two of them, to save space, but right now that was all Noal needed. He wouldn't have admitted it to Aki, but he was just as curious about these two guys as she was. Noal was just determined to be a little more cautious about them than Aki was being.

Starting to carry the blankets back out to where Aki was with the two boys, Noal decided to take one of the emergency First Aid kits. After all, there _was_ an injured person out there, despite the fact that they could be working for the enemies that the Outer Space Development Group had been seeing for months on end. Hurrying back out to where the two boys lay, Noal took a minute to scan the skies for any sign of aliens.

It would be just like those annoying mutant freaks to show up when they weren't wanted. But there was nothing in the sky at the moment but stars and the occasional cloud. Noal strode quickly back over to Aki and the two boys. Aki had turned both of them over on their backs, and now Noal could see that the one on the left was a lot paler than the guy who he had been helping to walk.

Moving over to the boy on the right, Noal began to wipe the blood off of his face. There was more of it than Noal would have liked, but the face itself didn't seem to be too badly damaged. That was good, but whoever this kid was, he was going to have some scarring over his left eye. _Heck, hes lucky he didn't _lose_ his eye, whoever he is. I'm sure hell get over a little scar or two._

"So, aside from this, how are they doing?" Noal asked.

"The other one has a deep gash, almost like a stab wound, on his right calf," Aki said, pointing to the other boy's leg. "It was deep enough to scratch the bone, but luckily for him it only did superficial damage beyond that. Even then, he's not bleeding badly enough for the wound to have severed any major veins or arteries."

"Good for him," Noal said, handing Aki a bandage and an antiseptic wipe. "Well, after we get these two field-dressed and wrapped up, let's head back to HQ."

"Right," Aki nodded, as she finished cleaning the other boy's leg wound.

Once both boys were ready to be moved, Aki and Noal wrapped them up in the blankets and hoisted them up into their arms. Carrying them back into the Polaris, Noal confronted his next problem. Noal wondered for a minute where to put them so they would be both safe and out of the way. But then he saw that Aki was strapping her guy into the chair right beside the one she usually sat in. Shrugging, Noal went over to the chair in the back right of the cockpit that was used for those rare occasions that the Polaris had an extra passenger.

Strapping the boy with the bandages on his face - who Noal was henceforth going to refer to as Bandage-guy until he figured out something better or until he found out the guy's real name, whichever came first - into the chair at the back of the cockpit, Noal walked over to the pilot's seat and finally strapped himself in. Aki had already strapped herself into her chair, so Noal knew that it was safe for him to start the take-off procedure.

Lifting off in the Polaris without the use of the launch ramp was hard, but Noal had always welcomed the chance to demonstrate his skills at handling the ship. Some people might call it showing off, but Noal had never really given much thought to other people's opinions of him. He was just the type to do what had to be done.

And if he could have a little fun while he was at it, so much the better. Now, with the Polaris back in the air, Noal found himself wondering again just who these two new boys were. They were both very similar looking, which could mean that they were either family or some kind of clones. But the fact that the two of them didn't look completely identical gave more credibility to the former idea.

Noal decided to leave the matter of the two boys' identities until he and Aki got back to the base. Just as he thought that, though, the outer edges of the Outer Space Development Group's center of operations came into view. _Well, that's good. I like a minor mystery just as much as the next guy, but even I'm starting to get a little antsy._ Noal looked over at Pale-guy, who was still asleep in the chair next to Aki.

Then he took another quick look back at Bandage-guy. They both seemed to be pretty normal, aside from the outrageously strange manner that they had arrived in. In fact, it was almost hard for Noal to think about these guys as anything but normal humans. Of course, that could all be part of the aliens' plan, and these guys could have just been cloned from someone who had been killed in one of the hundreds of alien attacks.

Noal always liked to consider all the possible angles of a situation before he made any judgments about it. He had often tried to apply the same kind of thing to meeting people for the first time, but he would be the first to admit that some people just rubbed him the wrong way from the start. As the Polaris hovercraft settled once again on terra firma, Noal started turning off the engines and getting ready to disembark.

Walking over to Bandage-guy and unstrapping him from his seat, Noal picked him up again.

"You know, whoever you are, you're not exactly light," Noal muttered.

Aki, who was already carrying Pale-guy out of the cockpit, turned and gave Noal a sidelong look. Noal smirked at her, and Aki rolled her eyes at him. Together they made their way into the base of the Outer Space Development Group. _I just hope we're not getting into something all of us are going to end up regretting. I have a lot of friends in the Outer Space Development Group, and I don't want to put them in harm's way any more than they already end up there._

With that thought, Noal made up his mind to watch the two boys, just in case they turned out not to be trustworthy after all. Not stopping to talk to Levin and Honda the way they usually did after a mission had ended had apparently raised some suspicions on the part of the two technicians. But Noal and Aki both made it to the infirmary before they had to deal with either of the techs.

Setting Bandage-guy down on a med-bed, Noal watched as the doctors swarmed around him and Pale-guy. There was only one med-bed currently in the infirmary, and the things were a little too unwieldy to be moved with this kind of short notice, so the two guys ended up sharing a med-bed. There had apparently been some minor nicks and cuts on both boys' chests, and one rather large one on Pale-guy's left arm, that Noal and Aki had missed when they had first bandaged the two of them up.

It had probably been because both he and Aki had been more concerned with keeping the two boys from bleeding out through their major wounds than they had been with looking for any others. Apparently someone had thought to put in a call to the Chief, since he was the next one to come striding into the medical bay.

"So, these are the men you rescued from the crater?" Chief Freeman asked.

"Yes, Chief. We found these men out in the desert when we were searching out the samples of the alien spore plants that you requested," Aki reported. "It's still hard to believe that they even survived that explosion."

"Yeah, Chief," Noal said. "I'm not too sure what to make of it, myself."

"It seems like a miracle," Chief Freeman said, peering curiously through the window, a hand on his chin.

They had been dressed in some spare uniforms. Minus the shirts, vests and shoulder pads, of course. The two of them were also wearing slippers instead of standard-issue boots. Both of them were also hooked up to IV fluids by now, since it was pretty obvious that neither one was going to be getting up for awhile. Or at least that was the general assumption.

IV

As he fought to regain some shred of consciousness, Takaya found that he could still sense his brother Shinya somewhere close by. As Takaya started to come back to himself, he could now feel that he was lying on something soft and body-warmed. That didn't fit with any of his earlier recollections, though, since the last thing he could clearly recall was being stabbed in the face by Tekkaman Dagger and then being left for dead.

Trying to force his heavy eyelids to open, the first thing Takaya realized was that he was completely blind in his left eye. _That_ woke him up faster than almost anything, and Takaya barely had time to register the female voice that was speaking. Takaya thought that the girl might have been talking to him, or maybe about him, but he was much more concerned with finding his brother and finding out where he was. In exactly that order.

Sitting up, Takaya tossed the blanket that he only now noticed off of himself. That it landed on the person standing next to his bed was an unexpected but not unwelcome bonus. The next thing Takaya did was to pull out the tubes that someone or other had jammed into his arm; who knew what kind of chemicals they were trying to poison him with.

That was when Takaya finally noticed that Shinya had been lying next to him the entire time. His brother's eyes were just starting to open, and Takaya tore the IV line out of his arm as well. Lunging forward; knowing that he would be in a much better position to demand answers after he managed to take a hostage, Takaya wrapped his right arm around the girl's neck, trapping her against his body.

His left arm went around her waist, further restraining her and insuring that she wouldn't escape before Takaya had gotten some satisfactory answers. Naturally, Shinya chose just that moment to wake up.

"What hit me?" Shinya moaned. "Brother, are you still there?"

"You!" Takaya demanded of the nearest person, a blond in a strange looking blue flightsuit. "Are you Radam, or are you Earthlings? Answer me!"

Hearing all this, Shinya quickly got off the bed and stood behind his brother. Takaya didn't acknowledge him right then, but only because he was so completely focused on finding out the information that could prove vital to the survival of himself and his brother. And to the Earth itself, of course.

"Radam? What are those?" the blonde man asked, looking confused.

"The Radam are aliens! They've occupied the Orbital Ring."

"What, did you take some kind of a training seminar on them or something? Or do you think you're still dreaming?"

"All right," he conceded; he didn't sense any danger from these people, and he and Shinya would have been killed by now if these people really _were_ Radam. "You're not Radam. Where are we; where have my brother and I ended up?"

"This is the headquarters of the Outer Space Development Group," an older mans voice, transmitted over a radio, said.

"The Outer Space Development Group? Wonderful!" he said, smiling; Outer Space Development Group meant that they _had_ to have some kind of a ship.

"First bit of good luck we've had in awhile," Shinya said, sidling up to him; he turned to look back and saw that his smile was mirrored on his younger brother's face.

"Good luck?" a woman demanded. "What are you talking about? And _you_, let go of Milly, now!"

"Huh?" Shinya muttered.

That had been a woman's voice. Turning to look where it had come from, Shinya saw that there was a young, pretty, dark-haired woman standing next to an older, albino man. For a moment, Shinya wondered who she was. Then, hearing his brother's grunt of pain, Shinya quickly turned his attention back to what was happening in front of him. The girl, Milly, was running up to the blond man whose name neither of them knew yet.

"Serves you right," the blond said, obviously speaking to him rather than Shinya. "Now, boys, isn't it good manners to tell someone your names when you first meet them?"

"Our names?" Takaya asked. "I don't know what my name is; I forgot it." He snapped; Shinya was the only one who could know his name. He would only be Aiba Takaya for Shinya.

"I don't know, either," Shinya said, with only a moment of hesitation.

"What?" Milly gasped, looking horrified.

"Who's in charge here?" Takaya demanded, ignoring Milly's pitying look and the blond man's wary hostility.

"I am," the albino said. Confirming Takaya's earlier supposition.

"I have a favor to ask you," he said.

"A favor?"

"Yes. Let us borrow one of your space ships to get back up to the Orbital Ring," he explained. "We have some unfinished business up there."

"Unfinished business?" the blond demanded. "What kind of-"

The sudden blaring of one of the loudest, most grating alarms that either twin had been subjected to in all the time that they could remember cut into the blond's question. For once, the twins were grateful to hear something unexpected. Neither had looked forward to trying to explain just what they were talking about.

"What's going on?" Takaya demanded. Just because he was grateful for the interruption didn't mean that he wouldn't want to know what had caused it.

"Alien life-forms have landed somewhere on Earth," Milly said.

"Damnit!" Takaya snarled.

"More of the Radam," Shinya hissed, finishing his brother's sentence.

"Both of you! Come with me." the albino ordered. "This way."

All four of them rushed out of the hospital-like room. They were hot on the heels of the albino and the woman, and Takaya didn't have long to wonder just where they were all going before they got there. 'There' was a huge room with a huge viewscreen, obviously the main center of operations for this Outer Space Development Group. What Takaya and Shinya saw on the screen was depressing, but not at all unexpected. Not after what they'd already seen.

Armies of Radam's mindless beasts were landing all over the place, tearing buildings, tanks, fighter-craft and anything else that got in their way to shreds.

"What's that base were looking at?" he heard Shinya ask.

"That was Jones Base," the albino said. "A part of the Allied Earth Military's Australian branch."

On the screen, another group of fighter-craft had just been destroyed by a single one of Radam's beasts. The image then changed to a group of tanks, again confronting only a single Radam beast. The tanks did about as well as the fighter-craft, and they soon met the same fate.

"It's just as I feared: they're completely helpless."

"Please," he said, looking up into the pinkish eyes of the albino. _Sasuke-chibi_ No! Sasuke, Kengo, Miyuki, Fritz- they were all dead! The Radam had killed them; all that he had left was Shinya. "Please, give us one of your space ships."

"A space ship?" Aki asked him.

"What are you talking about?" Noal asked.

"There's no other way to handle this!" he shouted, his patience almost at an end; Shinya had always been better at handling people than him.

"Wait," the albino said. "You boys, are you human?"

"What?" they both asked. "Well, isn't that obvious?" he continued, looking to his brother; Shinya just shrugged.

"The you both should know that there are no space ships left on Earth," the albino said.

"That can't be right," Shinya muttered, and then bit his tongue to keep himself from saying anything else; the albino was looking at him.

"I thought there would at least be one available here," Takaya said, as he stepped in front of Shinya, drawing the man's attention away from his younger brother.

"Even if we had a space ship for you, what would you do with it?" the albino asked.

"The Radam are going to descend to Earth in much greater numbers than this," Takaya said, trying as hard as he could to communicate the urgency of the information he had; they needed to _act_, not just stand around here talking. "I know it wont be long before their main force lands here on Earth. That's why my brother and I _must_ be able to attack them while they're still in space!"

"Don't try to feed us that crap!" Noal snapped.

"My brother knows what he's talking about," Shinya snapped right back. "He's telling the truth!"

"He might be," the albino said, sounding tolerant. "Still; how is it that you two know the name of the enemy? Or, if what you're saying is really true, what good could either of you do if you _were_ to go out there?"

"There's no time to explain that now!" Takaya was not in the mood to waste any more time.

A huge explosion on the screen drew the attention of all the participants in the argument then.

"There is one space ship still here," Milly said, deciding to help them, since they both seemed to be sincere.

"You have a space ship?" Shinya said turning toward Milly, hopeful excitement just barely audible in his tone.

"Space ship?" Takaya repeated, rushing over to where Milly stood and grabbing her by the shoulders. "That's what you said, isn't it? Tell me where it is!" Shaking the girl caused the bandages around Takaya's head to come loose, and he shook them off without a second thought. "Tell me, please!"

"Well," Milly said, with a bit of difficulty. "The Blue Earth is in Hangar Three; down in the eighth Sub-level."

Takaya dashed out of the room without a word or a look back.

"Thanks for all your help!" Shinya said over his shoulder, running to catch up with his brother.

V

The blaring alarms came as somewhat of a surprise to both twins, despite the fact that they probably should have expected something like this to happen given the way that the Outer Space Development Group had reacted to their presence in the first place. _Though, I guess that we really didn't do much to improve their opinions of us,_ Shinya thought to himself.

"Emergency! Emergency! Stop the intruders heading for Hangar number Three!" a voice that Shinya thought he might have recognized from somewhere shouted over what was likely the base-wide comm. "I repeat, stop the intruders heading for Hangar number Three!"

They quickly came to a metal door. Takaya rammed into it with his left shoulder, and Shinya finished the job by kicking the door all the way open. Takaya ran through first, while Shinya quickly rebalanced himself. Takaya was running fast enough that he almost tripped and fell headlong down the stairs, but he managed to right himself in time. Using the railing to vault down to the lower landing, Takaya ran the rest of the way down the stairs.

Shinya was now a few feet behind his brother, but he vaulted over the railing and managed to land on the lower flight of stairs, just a few steps behind Takaya now. Both twins raced out of the stairwell and into the hallway that presumably led to Hangar Three.

The base was a bit confusing for someone who hadn't been there before, and Shinya couldn't help thinking that that was the entire point of the design. Both he and Takaya hoped that they would be able to find this "Blue Earth" before the Outer Space Development Group's security forces found them.

Shinya's spinning kick knocked one of Takaya's opponents to the floor, and Takaya's punch took out one of the others. There were still more guards, or personnel, or whatever they were to deal with, though. As Shinya and Takaya moved quickly through the corridor, Takaya spotted someone who might be able to help them. It was a red-haired person; a man, Shinya realized, after taking a closer look.

He was just sitting against the wall, apparently thinking that he would somehow not be noticed if he didn't move. That plan was just about to fail, though. Grabbing him by the top of his purple overalls, Takaya shook him violently.

"Where is Hangar number Three?" Takaya demanded.

"You're choking me!" the man said; Takaya growled deep in his throat, even the old Shinya hadn't been this melodramatic.

"Are you one of the intruders?" shouted a deep, powerful voice from just behind him as the man in front of them cowered.

"Boss!" the red-head shouted, sounding relived but still scared.

Shinya, having fallen behind Takaya in order to better protect his brother from anyone who might try to attack from the rear, heard the commotion and came racing over. He was just in time to see a large, burly, rather portly man grab Takaya in a bearhug and lift him off the ground. _He's strong. I'm going to have to be careful about how I handle this. I don't want Ta-kun getting hurt because of my carelessness,_ Shinya thought to himself.

Takaya, being held up over Honda's head, was in the perfect position to watch as Shinya came charging to his rescue. He didn't know exactly what his brother did to make the large man loosen his grip, but judging from Shinya's stance it had probably been one of his brothers infamous rising-uppercut punches.

"Let go of me, bastard!" Takaya said, slamming his head into the rotund man's with all the force he could safely use. Back-flipping out of the man's grasp as he started to fall, Takaya landed back on his feet with the grace of a cat.

"Thanks," Takaya said.

"Always, brother," Shinya acknowledged.

Turning back to the skinnier red-head, Takaya once again grabbed him by the top of his overalls.

"You want to end up like that man?" Takaya demanded, he moaned in response.

"You'd better talk," Shinya said, moving toward the man with slow, purposeful strides. "My brother's not patient like I am."

"Go out that door and take a left," the frightened man instructed, shaking as he pointed to a door down the hall in front of them. "You'll find Hangar Three about a hundred yards down that hallway and to the right."

"Thanks!" Takaya shouted as he ran off, following the directions that the man had given him. "Try not to die here."

"Thanks again for your help! Take care!" Shinya called over his shoulder, following Takaya.

As the twins turned left out of the door, then ran the hundred yards that the red-haired man had instructed them to, they came at last to the huge entrance doors to Hangar Three. Shinya whistled softly.

Punching the glass that protected the door controls, Takaya managed to get the entrance to the hangar to open. Once the doors were open and the twins eyes had adjusted to the brighter lights, both of them marveled at the sheer size of the Blue Earth's pre-launch vehicle. After about a minute, though, Shinya and Takaya both remembered that they weren't here to sightsee. And that there were probably still people after them.

Both boys quickly made for the relative safety of the spacecraft in front of them. Inside, Takaya grabbed two red and white jackets. Tossing one to his brother, Takaya kept the other for himself. Shinya, only now noticing that he was cold, quickly put the jacket on.

"Take the controls," Takaya said, as he passed the pilots station.

"Right, brother," Shinya said, plunking himself down in the pilots seat and zipping up the jacket as he did.

As Shinya worked the piloting controls, Takaya familiarized himself with the navigation of the Blue Earth. Starting the take-off procedure proved to be a little bit more complicated than Shinya would have preferred, but he soon had the ship off and coasting up the launch-ramp.

"We've launched," Shinya commented. "Ta-kun, don't die out there."

"I won't die, Shin-chan. And don't you die, either," Takaya muttered.

There was a sudden lurch as the Blue Earth broke free from its pre-launch vehicle, and the usual high-gs that were always a part of leaving or entering outer space. As the last scraps of the Earth's atmosphere were left behind, the twins destination was thrown into stark relief.

"The Orbital Ring," Shinya said with some satisfaction.

"Oh, it's the Orbital Ring, all right. You little bastard," Noal, however, did not sound quite as enthused about their achievement, as he grabbed Shinya by the collar of his jacket. "You idiots have some nerve, dragging us up here like this. Now fly us back! Did you hear me? Fly us back to Earth!"

"Go away!" Shinya swatted Noal's grasping hands aside.

"The lasers are going to fire on us!" Aki shouted, before Noal could think of something else to say. She edged Takaya out of his seat and quickly took his place at the navigation console.

"Doesn't this ship of yours have any weapons?" Takaya asked, holding onto the back of Aki's chair as he braced himself against the ships maneuvering.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" Noal grumbled, as he activated the magnetic shield. "Damn; the lasers are starting to move again."

The lasers on the Orbital Ring continued their barrage, and Takaya nodded to Shinya, signaling that it was time. Shinya followed his brother to the doors at the back of the Blue Earths cockpit.

"Hey; you two take it from here!" Takaya said. "Brother, let's go!"

"I'm with you, brother," Shinya smiled.

"What did you just say?" Noal asked. "What, do you two idiots just think were going to let you do whatever you want?"

"It's not possible for us to go back now," Takaya informed them. "Listen to me if you don't want to die!"

"Where do you two think you can go?" Aki asked. "There's nothing out there at all!"

"You little morons!" Noal shouted. "There's nothing but hard vacuum out there! Step out there and you'll die!"

"No, we wouldn't," Shinya said. _Not from the lack of air anyway; though there are still Radam's creatures... And Dagger._

"You're wrong," Takaya said, backing up his brother. "We won't die out there! We _can't_!" Takaya shot back, just before he opened the airlock doors and proceeded Shinya into the only exit on the Blue Earth that hadn't been locked shut when the ship had left the earths atmosphere.

Now standing alone together, side-by-side in the airlock, no words were exchanged between the two boys. It wasn't for lack of time, not in this instance, but because there was no need. Takaya and Shinya both knew what they had to do. Now all that remained was to do it.

Takaya held up his right hand, while Shinya pulled his right hand out from his side in a way that would suggest that he was pulling something out of his pocket. Both Takaya's green crystal and Shinya's light blue one appeared within seconds of the twins having summoned them. Takaya and Shinya both held their crystals aloft.

"Teksetta!"

The energy of their transformations filled the airlock, snapping and humming as their armor was recalled from its resting place. Still surrounded by the radiant energy of their individually colored crystal-fields, Varis and Blade both flew right out of the airlock and into space.

VI

The first things that Noal and Aki saw, the things that let them know that something drastic had just happened, were the two strange glowing things that shot out into space; flying just ahead of the Blue Earth. There seemed to be people inside them, one in each, and Aki was the first one who thought to scan the airlock for any life signs. It was empty.

That was when both members of the Outer Space Development Group noticed that the boys they had just met were somehow _inside_ those glowing energy shapes. The one that held Blade was a bright emerald green, and Varis' was a bright sky-blue.

"What in the hell is that?"

"D-boy and D-two?" Aki marveled.

VII

Being surrounded by a field of snapping, humming energy for the second time in a day was strange, but neither Blade nor Varis was thinking much about that. They were both focused with single-minded intensity on the Orbital Ring lasers that were all aimed at them. As their armor finished reforming, neither twin could resist an urge to show off a bit.

"Tekkaman Blade!" Blade announced, bursting out of his crystal-field.

"Tekkaman Varis!" Varis announced, as he did the same.

Varis turned his attention to the hordes of Radam's creatures that had come out to guard the laser arrays. _Either that, or they realized we were here and decided to try and intercept us._ Varis wasnt thinking of the Radam then, since he knew that they were really too stupid to realize or decide anything on their own.

But Omega, the one who made the Radam's creatures and the only one who could really command them, could make those kinds of decisions. As the swarm closed in around them, Blade and Varis charged at the monsters of Radam that were trying to keep them from reaching their goal.

"Get out of the way!" Blade shouted.

"Crash Intrude!" the twins shouted simultaneously.


	2. The Lonely Warriors

Inside the Blue Earth, Noal and Aki watched in awe as Varis and Blade were enveloped within bright, glowing fields of energy. The energy fields spread out and took a shape that vaguely resembled a pair of birds. When they started attacking, causing the Radams monsters to explode messily in their wake, Noal and Aki watched with distinctly different attitudes.

"Jeez, look at them," Noal groused, watching in dumbfounded shock as those two boys ripped into the Radams monsters with frankly reckless abandon. "Theyre not _Dangerous_ Boys, theyre Destructive Boys!" Shuddering briefly, Noal turned his attention back to piloting; it wouldnt be good for anyone if he let them get killed out here.

"Ill contact Headquarters so we can let Chief Freeman know about this," Aki said. Turning to the radio located in the part of the console that controlled communications, Aki contacted the Outer Space Development Groups base. "D-Boy, D-Two; just who are you two, anyway?" she muttered, only half aware that she had started speaking again.

"OSDG Headquarters, Milly here. Is something happening, Aki?"

"Milly, is the Chief there?"

Aki got her answer a few seconds later, when Chief Freemans calm visage appeared on her screen.

"What is it, Aki?" he asked, calm as always.

"Sir, do you remember those two boys that Noal and I picked up when we were on that mission this morning?"

"I remember them," Chief Freeman said. "The two of them made quite the mess of our headquarters."

"Noal and I boarded the Blue Earth before they could manage to take off," Aki said. "And what were seeing up here, well... Its amazing."

"Yes, I agree," the Chief said calmly. "Its a rather surprising development."

"Chief, did you see the way they fought?" Noal asked warily, his mind still reeling a bit from what he had just seen.

"Yes, they have incredible power," Chief Freeman said, though he didnt sound entirely enthusiastic about it; Chief Freeman _had _always preferred to err on the side of caution, and anyone with eyes could see that these boys were indeed Dangerous.

"The footage youre filming up there is all over the monitors down here!" Milly said, clasping her hands together over her heart and grinning. "Its so amazing! Ive never seen anyone beating those aliens before, and now weve got _two_ people who can do it!"

"Well, Chief, what do _you_ think of those boys: D-Boy and D-Two?"

"At this point, I cant even tell if theyre enemies of ours, or if they might be on our side," Chief Freeman said. "D-Boy said that they were both humans, but I dont know if even that is true. D-Two certainly didnt back him up." The Chief paused for a moment, clearly trying to decide what he should do next. "Noal, Aki, Im going to give you some orders that will likely prove crucial to the survival of Earth and the human race: no matter what happens, I want you to bring D-Boy and his brother D-Two back with you when you return to Earth."

"What? You want us to bring _them_?" Noal demanded, shocked.

"Roger," Aki said, cutting Noal off as she ended the transmission.

I

Out in space, Varis and Blade were still carving their way through the hordes of Radam creatures that were trying to hold them back. It was beginning to seem a little boring, to Varis at least. Blade didnt seem to mind though. When they managed to land on the Orbital Ring, Varis looked out at all the fresh Radam creatures that had come out to fight them and sighed. _More and more and more; this is annoying._

Squeezing Blades hand, the both of them still a bit out of breath from what they had just been through, Varis released his grip as Blade nudged him slightly.

Diving forward, both twins started blasting through the Radam creatures that were now trying to surround them. Blade, seeing that the odds were not on their side, drew the separated halves of his tekkalance and joined them together. Hurling his weapon like an oversized boomerang, Blade ran forward and caught it as it came down. There were now five less of Radams creatures there to attack them.

Varis pulled his hands apart, and a shaft of bright bluish-white light appeared between them as he recalled his own tekkalance. Jumping off the Orbital Ring and igniting his rockets, Varis flew into the midst of a group of Radam creatures. The slashes he was making with his tekkalance and the way he was keeping himself out of the way of the Radam creatures that were trying to attack him in return seemed almost instinctive to Varis.

It was strange, but Varis was glad that he wouldnt be having to learn about his abilities while he was fighting. It was one more thing that the Radam had done to him. It was useful, but there was no way in hell that it went even one tenth of the way to making up for what they had stolen from him. It wasnt even a consolation. All Varis was to them was a living weapon, these instincts just made that fact more clear.

Back on the Orbital Ring, Blade was having the same kind of experience. It was as if he knew just where and when to strike to be able to bring down the maximum number of Radam creatures. As the twins slaughtered their way through the massed Radam creatures that were trying to bring them down, neither of them had any idea that their performance was about to attract the attention of a man that they would both come to hate almost as much as Omega himself.

II

Back on Earth, deep within the headquarters of the Allied Earth Military, the gathered soldiers were in a grim mood. None of the news that they had received from their surviving forces had been good, and not one of them was looking forward to receiving more of the same reports of losses to Radam creatures. That was what made the footage they were watching on the main monitor so interesting.

It actually looked like the Radam creatures were losing this time, and losing badly. There were a pair of human-sized figures of roughly the same configuration darting in and out of the formations of Radam creatures with a grace that almost defied description, and most certainly defied belief. They both had weapons, and the Radam creatures were being destroyed by the score in their wake.

"Look at that! Summon the staff officers right away!" ordered one of the higher-ranked officers who was watching the broadcast.

In another room, on a higher level of the base, the leaders of the Allied Earth Military were having a meeting. It was the sixth one they had had this week, since all of them knew that they had to look like they were doing all that they could do to help save the people of Earth, no matter how hopeless the situation appeared to be. Right now they were deep in a discussion of how to allocate their funding; opinions, as always, were divided.

"Its for this reason that I suggest that the Allied Earth Military focus on building space ships for the foreseeable future," one of the other soldiers stated, the main focus of his attention on General Howard Bradly, the chairman of the military council.

"And where in the hell are we going to get the money for that?" Bradly asked, a bit more than slightly annoyed. "Every space ship that weve ever built has been destroyed by those alien monsters. We dont have the resources to waste right now."

"The simple truth is that we cannot continue to rely solely on ground-based weaponry any longer," Lieutenant Patrick Robertson said. "Well need to build at least a small number of spacecraft if we ever want to regain the initiative in this war."

"How can we budget for that, when everyone knows that any new ships that we build are just going to end up being destroyed by those creatures?" Brigadier General Frank Archer demanded. "Or even shot down by those lasers that the enemy has gained control of?"

At that moment, another person came striding into the room where the military leaders were having their meeting.

"Excuse me, sirs," he said. "But theres been something of a new development."

"What?" Bradly asked, surprised. "Get it up on the main screen at once!"

All of the Generals in the conference room found themselves turning toward the main screen as the video began to play.

"This footage was recorded by one of our few remaining surveillance satellites."

The footage would have come as a surprise to anyone who was used to dealing with Radam creatures and their attacks: the Radam creatures were actually losing for once. And losing pretty badly. All to a pair of humanoid beings that were barely half their size. All of the military personnel were shocked, but one in particular was already looking for a way to use this new development to his advantage.

His name was Xercese Colbert, and while he had been bored out of his mind during this meeting, he was always looking out for ways to build up his own power and increase his standing in the world. These two new creatures that were being shown on the monitor, tearing through the ranks of Radams own creatures like they were nothing, held a great deal of promise as far as the General was concerned. _Amazing; this is beyond _anything_ Ive ever seen before. How perfect._ As soon as the video clip had ended, General Colbert stood up.

"I want to know everything you can find out about those two creatures," he ordered. _I want them for my own._

"Well get right on it, General," Lt. Robertson said, saluting him sharply.

III

__

[Shinya, the Blue Earth is in danger!]

[Huh?]

Turning to look back over his shoulder, Varis saw that the Blue Earth was indeed in a great deal of trouble: they had been knocked out of their original position by a group of Radam creatures, and were now falling down towards the Orbital Ring.

__

[Damnit.] Shaking his head, wondering just which cosmic deity he and Blade had pissed off, Varis turned back to the Radam creatures that were still coming their way. _[Ill deal with them, you take care of the Blue Earth.]_

[I will. Good luck, Shinya.]

[Thanks, Ta-kun.]

Battering the ranks of Radam creatures out of existence with his tekkalance, Varis shot a look back over his shoulder. Blade seemed to have the situation with the Blue Earth well in hand, and oddly enough the Radam creatures were all starting to pull back, so he broke off his attack and made for the safety of the Blue Earth. If he didnt get some food in him soon, he was going to de-transform and pass out, probably in that order.

And out here, doing that kind of thing would be almost instantly fatal; at least if he was lucky.

IV

When they had rejoined each other in the Blue Earths airlock, Varis patted Blades shoulder to let his brother know that he was still there. That they were still together. The doors opened once the pressure had been equalized, and Blade walked into the ship ahead of Varis, protecting his brother the way he had taken to doing.

He didnt really hear what Noal said, but he saw the way the other man stepped in front of Aki. It was as if he was trying to protect her, too.

His transformation couldnt hold with all of the energy he had used up, and he ended up standing in front of Noal and Aki completely nude. He felt Shinya falling against him, and knew from the feel of his brothers skin that Shinya was in the same condition as he was. As they struggled to stand, Takaya tried to keep his brother from hitting his head on the unyielding metal of the deck.

"D-Boy! Just what the hell are you, anyway? And your brother, if the two of you are even related at all; just who _are_ you two?" Noal demanded. "Hey? Are you even listening to me?"

Takaya ignored him, even as his knees buckled under him and he fell to the deck. Shinya would have probably made some kind of joke, or at least said _something_ in response, but he could see that Shinya was barely conscious at the moment.

"D-Boy? Are you and D-Two going to be all right?" Aki asked; Takaya hoped so.

"Whats wrong with you two, anyway?" Noal asked, crouching down in front of them.

"Give us some food to eat," he said, glancing briefly in their direction, then cradling Shinyas head and watching for any changes in his brothers condition.

"What? Are you serious?" Noal echoed, looking more disbelieving than anything. Then he shrugged, and he and Aki came over to help them up.

Aki was obviously still a little flustered by the fact that he and Shinya were both still naked, but since there was nothing he could really do about that he decided not to worry about it. Getting Shinya back to full health was the more important thing, anyway.

Once they were both back on their feet, Takaya felt someone elses arms around his waist, someone who he knew couldnt be Shinya.

"Noal?"

"I might not trust you, D-Boy, but youd just be in the way if you and D-Two collapsed here. Besides, I dont think Akis quite up to handling the two of you right now."

Turning to look back at the nicer or the two Space Knights hed been dealing with, Takaya saw that she had turned to look at a spot on the wall, almost directly opposite where he and Shinya were standing. It seemed like she was more flustered than before, but maybe that was just because he was starting to realize just what kind of an acutely embarrassing situation he and his brother were in now.

"Youre right," he conceded.

"Good, now lets get you two dressed before Aki blushes herself to death."

"Noal!" said female Space Knight admonished; without even turning around, Takaya noticed.

Takaya could feel the other man offering a one-shouldered shrug, but more importantly he could feel that Shinya was starting to revive. His brother was moving a bit more enthusiastically, which Takaya was grateful for.

__

[Shinya, do you think youll be able to walk soon?]

[I dont really know, Ta-kun. I guess well find out soon, though. Is Noal actually helping_ us?]_

[I think he just wants us out of the way in case we fall over again.]

[Hes really being annoying, isnt he?]

[You_ were the one who said we didnt make the best impression on them,]_ Takaya reminded his brother.

__

[You heard that?]

[Wasnt I supposed to?]

[That was just a thought I had, Ta-kun. I didnt really mean to share it.]

[I guess I still have a few things to learn about this link of ours,] he said. _[From now on, Ill make it a point not to actively listen in on anything youre not trying to tell me.]_

[I think that might help, Ta-kun.]

"All right, this is it," Noal said, cutting into their conversation without really knowing he was doing so. "Pick out your uniforms and get out of my hair."

With those as his parting words, Noal turned and left the twins standing in front of a small selection of folded Space Knight uniforms.

"You know, I dont think Noal likes us very much, Ta-kun," Shinya said, as Takaya started unfolding another of the stored uniforms.

"Yeah. I think you might be right, Shin-chan," Takaya muttered, as he heard the sounds of Shinya starting to dress up. He decided that he might as well get to it himself; his stomach was going to rebel if he didnt get some food in it soon, and he could just tell that he wasnt going to get any if he went back into the Blue Earths main area naked.

Shinya probably knew that just as well as he did, and that was most likely part of the reason that he hadnt been quite as belligerent with Noal as he otherwise might have been. The other part being his still-fairly-obvious tiredness of course.

Once they were dressed, and all the more hungry for the extra effort expended, Takaya helped Shinya or Shinya helped him; they were both tired enough that technicalities didnt matter much at the moment walk back into the main room of the ship.

"Can we have some food now, please?" Shinya asked, and Takaya could just hear his exhaustion; neither of them could afford to rest now. There were still the Radam to deal with.

"Here," Aki said kindly, handing the two of them something that looked like a plastic bento box. "These rations might not be the best tasting, but theyll keep you going as good as anything out there."

"Thank you," Takaya said, as he took the rations and handed one of the boxes to Shinya.

"Thanks a lot, Aki."

He sat down at the table, with Shinya following not long after; though his brother didnt sit down so much as fall into his seat while he was already yanking open the container of rations and digging in. Once he had his open, though Shinya had the advantage of starting in on it first, Takaya tore into them with gusto. His transformation and the subsequent fight had taken a lot out of him, and he didnt need to look over his shoulder to know that Shinya was doing the same.

"Jeez, you boys can really pack it away, you know?" Noal said, smirking slightly.

"The Tekkaman System drains a lot of our strength," Takaya said. "Thats why we get so hungry when we use it."

Shinya, his mouth already full of the bite of rations hed taken, simply made a muffled sound of agreement.

"So, those armored demons are called Tekkamen?" Noal asked.

"Im Tekkaman Blade," he said, taking another bite of the rations hed been given. "My brother is Tekkaman Varis."

Shinya had said that the Radam had called him Tekkaman Evil while they had been trying to bring him over to their side; Shinya was strong, and he had fought. His brother _was_ Varis; not Evil, _never_ Evil. He made the mistake of trying to breathe while he was still eating the energy bar that had been packed in with the other rations, and ended up choking on a bit of it. As he tried to gag it up and out of his trachea, with Shinya thumping him on the back to help, Takaya tried to settle back down.

__

[Silly Ta-kun,] he heard Shinya say.

"Take it easy, D-Boy, that food of yours isnt going to go anywhere," Aki said. "Look at D-Two; he isnt hurrying."

Takaya supposed he might have made a comment about Shinya being lazy; that is, if hed been around people he knew or if he had any other family left, but he wasnt, and so he didnt. "Who are you talking about? D-Boy; D-Two, I dont understand."

"Those are your names. D-Boy," Noal said, pointing to Takaya. "D-Two," he pointed to Shinya. "It means Dangerous Boy; your brother is just as dangerous as you are, but it would be too confusing to call you both the same thing." Noal said, grinning in a way that put neither twin at ease. "If you want me to call you something else, then youd really be better off remembering your real names."

"No," Takaya shook his head. "Its all right. I guess I can get used to it; neither me nor my brother remember anything about ourselves. In short, we have amnesia," Takaya said; hed tried to be more controlled ever since it had happened.

It was probably a good thing, but he couldnt help remembering the way things had once been. Aiba Takaya hadnt been like that at all; hed been a bit more like the way Shinya was now, and Aiba Shinya had been... well, Aiba Shinya had been more like a Kitsune, really: playful, subtle when it suited him, and always eager to have a good laugh. That was why hed made up the nickname Shinya-sune, in fact.

Aiba Shinya the Kitsune.

"Youre going to have to think up a better story than that! Now, start talking," Noal sneered. "Who are you boys? Who are the Radam, and how do you know what theyre called? And what in the holy _hell_ are those Tekkamen things you and D-Two transformed into?"

"We cant tell you something we dont know, _Noal_," Shinya snarled, slamming his hands into the table as he rose from his seat to glare at the man antagonizing them. "You shouldnt be asking such personal questions about us, anyway. You dont have any right!"

"The _right_? Listen, you little punk, Aki and I didnt have to drag you out of that crater-  
!" Noal roared, leaning farther over the table.

"And my brother and I didnt have to waste our time saving _your_ life, you stupid ingrate!" Shinya snapped.

"This isnt important," Takaya said, standing; Shinya looked like he was about to attack Noal barehanded. "Brother, come with me. We need to go now."

Turning, knowing that his brother would follow him wherever he went, Takaya launched himself toward the Blue Earths airlock. It was time they found what they were looking for.

"Hey, wait! Get back here, you morons!"

They ignored him, of course.

"Wait!" he heard Aki shout, just as the door behind them slid closed.

V

Once theyd made into the inner sections of the Orbital Ring, with Noal and Aki tagging along close behind, Shinya watched as Takaya turned back to look at them again.

"How far are you two planning to follow us?"

"We were ordered to bring you and D-Two back to Earth with us," Noal said. "Im not letting you get away."

"Well, good luck with that," Takaya said, sounding like he could have cared less; Shinya felt about the same. If these people wanted to risk their own lives for them, that was their problem.

The door opened soundlessly after Takaya had activated the manual controls, revealing darkness to anyone with Human-standard eyes. But then it had been a long time since Shinyas eyes had been anything but those of a Tekkaman; he could see the carnage beyond the doors. It didnt affect him much; after what hed been through, a few more dead bodies werent such an issue.

Akis gasp of horror, even more than the sudden brightening, let him know that they had turned on their helmet lights.

"Really now; this is just too much," Noal muttered. "Wait, where do you two think youre going?"

"Move quickly," Shinya suggested calmly; he could hear them talking behind him, but he didnt pay it much attention.

"The Orbital Ring System, once said to be mankinds greatest masterpiece, meant to serve as a spaceport; its nothing more than a graveyard now."

"We could go right into space, with the Orbital Rings elevators connecting us from Earth. Its such a shame."

"I guess it was really all for nothing," Takaya said darkly; Shinya sighed, that was more true than he wanted it to be.

"Listen to you, D-Boy; the Blue Earth is the only spacecraft left on the entire planet. Now weve lost every avenue we might have used to get into space," Noal said. "You know?"

"We might be better off _not_ being able to go into space," Takaya said.

"I think you can see the results of _that_ well enough," he said, glancing around at the bodies floating in front of them; he tried not to think about just whose fault that was, neither he nor Takaya were Aibas anymore, but remembering still hurt.

"What do you boys mean by _that_?" Noal asked.

"Youll find out soon enough," Takaya said, as they passed through another pair of doors.

Shinya had to nod in response; whatever they were looking for, they were getting closer. He still didnt know quite what it was, but it was connected to the Radam. Whatever it was, it _wasnt_ going to be good.

Takaya landed in front of a old, broken-down panel which actually, thankfully, still worked. Shinya landed a few paces behind him, watching his brothers back as he always did.

"Where are we going now?" Noal asked.

"The Radam have a very good reason for occupying the Orbital Ring the way they did," Takaya said.

Bright light spilled into the corridor in front of them as the doors Takaya had activated opened slowly. Shinya squinted at first; the sense of whatever the Radam were hiding sweeping over him, he could almost put a name to it

There were Radam pods anchored to every one of the walls. They hung in the near center of the room; most of them looked like strange, purple potatoes. The one in the center was different, though. That was the only one that he sensed any danger from; it was calm for now, only registering as a sort of vague tickle, but he had a feeling that it wouldnt be so placid for much longer.

"They wanted the Orbital Rings powerful solar energy collectors," Takaya said.

"Their pods wouldnt grow so rapidly under normal conditions," Shinya said, cocking his head slightly as the sense of danger permeating this place spiked sharply; it was centered around that round pod, he knew it, but he didnt know what it was or even what they would be able to do about it. "Theyre exploiting the almost inexhaustible energy-source theyve found here."

"So, the Orbital Ring is serving as a nest for the Radam?" Aki demanded, horror struck.

"Right," Takaya said.

"Weve got to do something before they start hatching!" Noal prompted as Takaya trailed off. "Once these ones start moving out, therell be no chance for us to control the situation."

"You really think you have any kind of control _now_?" Shinya muttered, speaking more to himself than anyone else; he must have accessed some kind of residual information, left over from that time. Again, he started feeling that sense of foreboding as his eyes locked on the spherical pod in the center.

"I know, thats why," Takaya said, trailing off as Shinya inhaled sharply.

Another twinge from his senses; another feeling telling him that they should get the hell out of here while the getting was good.

"What is it, you two?" Aki asked.

__

[Ta-kun, we need to leave. Now!]

[Shin-chan-]

"Its him! Hes very close; too close," Takaya said; Shinya moved in front of Aki and Noal, to protect them and so that they would be able to get them out of this room faster.

"Wait now, D-Boy; you and D-Two-"

"Get down!" As Takaya knocked Aki and Noal to the floor, Shinya dove down himself.

Before any of them could take another step, or even start to say another word, something fast and bright flew over their heads to impact on the far wall with a small explosion. It was one of Daggers energy-arrows; there was no way he wouldnt recognize _that_.

"That _hurt_," Noal grumbled, obviously annoyed.

"Tekkaman Dagger," Takaya muttered, just loud enough for even the humans to hear him.

"What?" Noal and Aki both demanded, "Another Tekkaman? Whats this all about, D-Boy?" Noal asked, as if he was far more concerned about something trivial like _that_ than about the fact that there was a vicious, homicidal Tekkaman not ten feet away from them.

"We dont have any time to explain this," Takaya said, and Shinya watched for any moves that Dagger might make toward them; hed known the person that Dagger had once been, as much as he didnt like to think about that, but no one who had been taken by the Radam was anything like the person that they had once been.

"We can make it through the atmosphere as long as the ship is still spaceworthy," Noal said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "But the main vernier is damaged, so we arent able to take off."

"All right; my brother and I can take care of that," Shinya said. "The two of you, get back there and make sure youre ready to launch otherwise," he continued, darting a look back at Dagger; they still had a bit of useable time. _This isnt going to be easy, _Shinya thought.

"Wait, you boys!" Noal shouted, even as Shinya took up a guard position next to the spot that Takaya had just vacated.

"Hurry! Go!" he heard Takaya shouting at them, and he almost turned to look, but Takaya had a job to do, just like his brother; he had to warn Takaya when Dagger got too close.

His instincts were screaming at him to move, but as long as Takaya was in danger and with Dagger now fully out of the healing pod and heading for them, they were all in pretty grave danger he was going to stand his ground. He couldnt do any less; Takaya would have done the same thing for him they were all they had left. The doors slammed shut, sealing them in with Dagger; but Noal and Aki were safe.

He didnt care so much about Noal, but Aki was someone he thought he might have been able to form a friendship with. But it was too late for that now; one part of their past had caught up to them, it was time to deal with it.

"Both of you, get out of here, now! My brother and I will hold him off while you escape," Takaya said, in response to Akis voice; he could understand it fairly well even through the muffling effect of the door, but it was almost drowned out by Daggers heavy, clanging footfalls. "Go now!"

Concentrating, Shinya pulled his tekkaset out and held it; it was his lifeline at times like this. He might have hated the Radam for what they had done to him, the things they had taken, but there was really no disputing that the power could be useful at times. Times like this one.

"Well come back to you, Aki," he said, and smiled slightly; it was nice to have someone else who cared about them. "Dont worry."

"Tekkaman Blade; Tekkaman Evil, I swear Ill finish you _both_ off, this time."

Takaya growled, Shinya snarled. The three of them exploded out of the windows; the doors sealed behind them automatically, which was a good thing or he would have worried about the others. Or at least about Aki.

But now, they had more serious issues to deal with.

__

[Shin-chan, you circle around and take him from behind. Ill handle things from the front.]

[All right. Just keep your wits about you, Ta-kun.]

[I will, Shinya.]

VI

Slamming into Dagger again, watching as Varis kicked him in the side, Blade raised his lance to deflect a blow from Daggers bow. Hed already been cut once by that thing; he wasnt going to forget it.

Splitting his lance, he deflected another thrust and then stabbed, mirroring the attack that Dagger had made on him when they had clashed the first time. He didnt know if it would leave the same kind of damage on Dagger as it had on him, but it felt good nonetheless.

He watched with some relief as Dagger screamed and fell.

__

[Nice work, Ta-kun, but I think we should get back to the Blue Earth,] Varis said. _[I think Noal said he was having trouble with the engines.]_

[I remember,] he smiled briefly. _[Shin-chan?]_

[What is it, Ta-kun?]

[Race you.]

He darted off, turning his head to catch sight of Varis just behind him.

__

[Maybe youre not so depressing after all, Ta-kun,] Varis said, laughter in his voice.

__

[I never claimed to be, Shin-chan,] he shot back, laughing himself.

They were soon back with the Blue Earth, and she was clearly having some trouble.

__

[So, we just get behind and push?] Varis asked, sounding slightly dubious, even as he followed Blade into position.

__

[Yeah; I think all the she needs is a little jump-start.]

[Then were going to try and re-board the ship while its still in motion? I guess it cant be too_ hard, if Keanu Reeves could do it.]_

Of all the times for him to think of that, he thought, rolling his eyes in fond exasperation. _[Just keep pushing, Shin-chan.]_

As they kept shoving, putting all the strength they had into the task, Blade saw the rockets on the back of the ship just between him and Varis start firing for the first time. Sighing with relief, knowing that his brother would have seen it, too, Blade eased off. Then something twinged in his danger sense, the very same one that had warned him of Daggers approach the first time.

He saw the green Tekkaman again; standing atop a raised structure on the Orbital Ring, just drawing back his bow.

"Voltekka!" he bellowed, as the charging process started; it finished quickly and he fired, taking most of his strength but vaporizing Daggers arrow.

That was good.

VII

Turning to watch Blade as he fired, knowing that his Voltekka used up most of his energy, Varis swept him up quickly and made for the safety of the Blue Earth. The ship was heading back around for them; it was nice to know that Aki was thinking about them. Hed have been willing to bet that she was the one who had wanted to help them.

Noal was enough of a jerk to want to leave them behind, he knew.

VIII

Looking into the aft-monitor again, she could see D-Two holding onto D-Boys waist and waving to them as they came for him.

"D-Two, weve got you. Do you think you can make it to the secondary air lock?"

"I think I should be able to make it that far, Aki-san," he said, and she wondered for a moment just how he could communicate over the radio; but it wasnt the time to think about things like that. "Thank you, though; for coming back for us."

"Youre welcome," she said, wishing that he hadnt felt the need to say that. "Come on, D-Two, get on board."

"Were here, Aki-san."

"Im going to go check on them," she said, setting the navcomp to keep them on course.

Noal might have said something else, but she didnt listen. Neither D-Boy nor D-Two had come into the main hold of the ship; there had to be something wrong. Coming into the hold, the air lock sealed so she could get inside, she found both boys lying on the floor. She tried to ignore the fact that they were naked as she looked them over and tried to determine if they were all right.


	3. The Defense Army's Ambition

His head felt like someone had been beating it with large, heavy sticks, but at least he was in a bed. That was nice. Opening his eyes slowly, Shinya struggled to remember just what had been going on; the battle with Dagger had to have been resolved in their favor, the fact that Takaya had blown the evil Tekkaman away with his most powerful weapon notwithstanding, he wouldnt have been waking up in bed if theyd been captured by the Radam.

In fact, if that _had_ happened it was debatable whether he or Takaya would have been waking up at all.

__

Oh shit, Takaya!

"Chief, I think hes waking up," said a bright, colorful blur that sounded like Milly.

Opening his eyes fully, Shinya found that the blur did indeed resolve into Milly.

"Welcome back, son," Chief Freeman said. "You and D-Boy did very well out there; I would like to thank you boys, on behalf of the Space Knights, and the Earth."

"Youre welcome, I guess," he said, not knowing quite what else to say.

__

[Theyve asked us to stay,] he heard Takaya say, and he turned to look his brothers way.

__

[Thats nice,] he said cautiously; he knew that neither of them were going to take the offer. It was just safer to have no ties, no weaknesses to be exploited; the only person he could ever really let himself care for was his brother. _[When are you planning to leave, Ta-kun?]_

[After we get some food and supplies. We should at least be able to make it to some kind of a shelter before nightfall.] Sitting up on the bed, one knee tucked under his chin, Takaya was the picture of watchful silence.

__

[What about rest? Id kind of like to sleep in a real bed at least once before we start moving again.]

[These people they seem to want us to protect them,] Takaya said, his gaze discretely taking in the gathered Space Knights._ [Though I guess I have to admit, a bed would be nice.]_

[Maybe a day wouldnt be so bad; you dont really get to know people that well in just a day. And they do have a lot of nice things here, Ta-kun.]

I

He considered what Shinya had just finished saying; the thought of a bed, not just a cot or a sleeping bag like they would find in one of the tent shelters that had sprung up all over the place, was tempting to him as well. But the thought of falling in with people like the Outer Space Development Group or their Space Knights people who had no idea what they were getting into when they chose to face the Radam, people who could very easily get close enough that their deaths would hurt him wasnt one that he liked to entertain. Shinya understood that; that was why he wasnt suggesting that they stay.

His brother just wanted a comfortable place to sleep. So did he, for that matter.

"D-Boy?" Chief Freemans voice broke him from his thoughts. "Im sorry to interrupt you, but I would like to know if you and your brother have come to a decision yet."

"I guess we can stay," he said, speaking more to Shinya than to the Space Knights leader.

__

[Its nice to know you can see reason once in awhile, Ta-kun,] his brother said, and there was a ghost of his usual teasing smile playing about his lips.

__

[Dont be so silly, Shin-chan.]

"Well have quarters set up for you, then," he said, nodding sharply as his eyes passed over them.

Takaya returned the nod without words, more concerned about what else he might be asked to do now that he had agreed to stay. Even if it _was_ only long enough to get food, supplies, and a warm place to sleep for the night. They didnt know that he and Shinya didnt intend to stay; he could tell from the way they looked at them.

Even Noals annoyance was indicative of that; he obviously thought he was going to have to deal with them for the long haul. Hed probably be relived when they were gone, though.

"So, what do we do now?"

"We should see about getting some food," he said, turning to look at his brother again.

"That sounds good," Shinya said, nodding as he levered himself out of bed. "Where do you think we should go?"

Just as he was about to say something, the alarms annoying in their shrillness started to go off again.

"This? _Now_? I really wanted to eat," Shinya said, sounding more fed up than truly angry.

He knew how his brother was feeling; hed been looking forward to getting a good meal, too.

"No rest for the wicked, eh?" Noal needled, standing in front of them even as they climbed out of the bed and headed for the main room.

It was best to get the talking over with so they could deal with the Radam creatures that Omega had to be sending out again. That was the only reason either of them could find for the alarms going off so soon after they had returned.

All but leaping out of the beds theyd been placed in, both twins made for the OSDG Headquarters main room at high speed. Most of the other Space Knights had already gathered there, and of course Chief Freeman was there waiting for them.

"Whats the situation, Chief?" Aki asked.

Neither twin was quite ready to consider himself a part of this organization, not after what they had been through, but they _would_ do everything they could to help. These people were still human, after all.

II

The pain... the pain had passed long ago, but this near-complete sensory depravation was almost worse. At least the pain could be fought, but there was nothing _to_ fight in this situation.

He was blind; his eyes sealed shut by what felt like a thicker variant of the slime that was imprisoning him in this pod. No sounds from the outside if there were any to be heard in the first place could reach his liquid-filled ears, leaving him in a void of silence that the blindness made all the more unbearable. The only thing he was left with was his sense of touch; his nose was filled with the same type of fluid as his ears, and he wasnt about to open his mouth to try and taste it.

The feel of his heart beating steadily was the only sensation he had in this place; the fluid was at the same temperature as his body, to the point where it was easy to forget it was even there.

All of this would have been bad enough without the constant whispers in the back of his mind; the voices that kept trying to press him into accepting a name that wasnt his. The name of a weapon; of one of Radams slave-warriors.

__

No; my name is Kengo, I am Aiba Kengo! He screamed silently, defying the voice that was trying to tell him that he was Tekkaman Yari, and that Aiba Kengo was dead. He was _not _going to give up his life to be a servant to the very things that had already killed most of his friends and utterly ripped apart his family!

Still, in the back of his mind almost unheard over the whispering voice was the nagging fear that he wouldnt be able to stand much more of this slow torture.

III

As they both helped to unload the boxes of supplies from the stack, carrying them into the Blue Earths hold and stacking them there, Shinya had to laugh to himself. Here theyd been all concerned about another Radam attack, and the alarm had turned out to be the general-alert. That was funny, if only in the sense that they should have been more curious about why the Space Knights hadnt looked worried when they had come into the comm. room.

Still, it _was_ useful to know the difference between the emergency-alert and the general-alert. That had to count for something, even in spite of the fact that they werent going to be with the Space Knights long enough for it to matter; theyd already made plans to leave after this supply run was finished.

Once all of the crates and boxes had been stacked and secured in the hold, and after he and Takaya had used the excuse of checking the bindings to get some time alone Noal might have been easy to hate, but Aki was just as easy to like, and they couldnt afford to stay in one place long enough to bond with people Shinya followed his brother back to the cockpit. Theyd only have to deal with these people for this one day; not long enough to form the kinds of bonds that would hurt to break.

That was a good thing; both of them agreed on that point.

Once the Blue Earth was back in the air, carrying the cargo that the Space Knights needed to continue their operations out in the Arizona desert, Takaya found his attention captivated by the landscape passing by underneath the craft. He and Shinya were going to have to cross that terrain when they inevitably left, so it was best to know what they were going to be dealing with beforehand.

"All right, kids," Noal said, with the air of someone anticipating something fun. "Hold onto your lunch!"

Takaya barely had time to wonder just what the man was going on about, before the force of sudden acceleration slammed him back into his seat. He heard Shinya grunting behind him, and swearing fairly colorfully in the privacy of his own mind, before he made a point of reestablishing the mental walls hed been working to construct. It was starting to look like the only way they would get any real privacy when they were in close proximity was to block out the thoughts that always seemed to want to slip into each others minds.

He and Shinya had both agreed to work on that while they were packing the crates into the Blue Earths hold. It was the only way either of them were going to be able to avoid going crazy.

They soon arrived back at the Outer Space Development Groups headquarters. None the worse for wear despite what felt like Noals best efforts. Catching up with Shinya while the two of them walked along with Noal and Aki, but neither twin paid them much attention he touched his brothers hand briefly as he passed. Of course, Shinya wasnt going to let him go with just that.

Squeezing back as Shinya held his hand, Takaya was forced to let go as they descended the Blue Earths boarding ramp. When they rejoined each other at the bottom of the ramp, Takaya heard Aki calling to him. Shinya seemed to like her, insofar as either of them would allow themselves to like anyone, but they _were_ still leaving this place.

"Well, should we report the situation to the Chief first? D-Boy, D-Two, come on!"

"Boys!" Aki called; both twins had made it clear that neither of them wanted anything more to do with them, but they seemed to be ignoring that. "Where are the two of you going?"

"We dont belong here; my brother and I are leaving now," Takaya said, over his shoulder. "Since none of you are going into space, well find another way," he said, almost slipping his arm through Shinyas before he thought better of it; best not to show any weaknesses.

"D-Boy, D-Two, could you hold off on that for a few moments?" He turned at Freemans voice, to see the man coming towards him with Milly alongside.

"What do you people want now?" he asked, mildly curious but not wanting to be delayed if he could help it.

"Id like to ask for the cooperation of you boys."

"Wed like to run a physical exam," Milly elaborated.

"A physical?" Shinya echoed, looking confused.

"Well, to find out about that system that lets you two transform into those Tekkamen, yeah?" Milly said, smiling and obviously enthusiastic about the idea for some reason.

__

[What do you think, Ta-kun? I know you said that you wanted to get out of here, but Im in favor of anything that causes trouble for the Radam.]

[So youre saying you think we should stay for this?]

[Yeah; just long enough for them to get some information. Who knows, they might even be able to make our lives a bit easier if we give them what theyre looking for.]

[All right,] he said, seeing the logic of his brothers argument but wishing for a moment that he hadnt. _[Well stay long enough for them to find out what they want to know.]_

Turning even as Shinya did, Takaya faced the Space Knights Chief. "All right, Ill go with you."

"Thank you, son," the man said, turning as both he and Shinya fell into step behind him. "Which one of you would be willing to undergo the MRI?"

"I will," he said firmly, knowing that Shinya would appreciate the gesture and also knowing that his brother wasnt one for lying still unless he had to.

Shinya would probably fidget through the entire thing; his brother wasnt really the type to stay still for any length of time when he was bored. And something like an MRI scan wasnt really the kind of thing Shinya would consider interesting enough to sit still for. Takaya let Freeman lead him away, and saw Shinya falling into step with them as the left; hed suspected that his brother wasnt going to leave him to face something even as mundane as an MRI without some kind of moral support, but it was nice to have it confirmed.

IV

The sensory-deprivation, as nice as it had been when compared to the pain he had been through while they were trying to make him into one of their warriors, was becoming almost the same kind of torture hed been put through before. He hated the Radam; everything about them was sorrow and pain and rage, and all they left behind was devastation and slavery and misery. Kengo knew, beyond any possibility of doubt, that he had to hold on to that hatred. It was the only thing that kept him out of their hands.

Everything else was starting to slip away from him, even the memories of home that he had once treasured so much, and he was left with only feelings and impressions. He couldnt love something he was having trouble even _remembering_, but he could hate the Radam for what they were doing to him. He could hate them for the pain they had inflicted on him.

And he could _certainly_ hate them for what they were trying to turn him into; that hatred was his lifeline, and he was going to cling to it for all he was worth. It was all he had left.

V

When Milly had asked for his tekkaset, Shinya had been reluctant at first. It was, after all, his only real means of defending himself from the Radam. Still, when she had told him that she needed it so she would have a second one to compare with Takayas, he had recalled his and handed it over. If Takaya was willing to trust these people with his only real means of defense, than he couldnt really do anything less.

__

[How are you doing in there, Ta-kun? They treating you well?]

[Fine, Shin-chan,] his brother said. _[Ill tell you when theyre done, so we can leave.]_

[Well go together, Ta-kun.]

[Always, Shin-chan.]

Smiling slightly at the warmth in his brothers silent voice, Shinya leaned against the wall and waited for either Milly to come tell him that she was done with his tekkaset, or for Takaya to say that he was done with his MRI. Whichever came first. He kind of wondered what these people would do once they were gone, how they would cope with the Radam once he and Takaya had left.

It wasnt a fair situation to leave them in, but then fate wasnt particularly fair in the first place. It had certainly made _that_ abundantly clear when... sternly, Shinya reminded himself that he wasnt going to think about things that couldnt be helped. It was what he and Takaya had both agreed on.

"D-Two," the calm voice of Chief Freeman greeted him, as the man walked up to him.

Takaya was beside him, and Shinyas eyes focused instinctively on his brother. _[This is telling me when youre done, Ta-kun?]_

[Sorry, Shin-chan, I fell asleep.]

[Silly Ta-kun,] he sent back, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "So, how did things go?" he asked.

"Not as well as I would have preferred, Im disappointed to say," Freeman stated, sounding almost as neutral as he always did. "We have a baseline reference now, so if you were to volunteer for the MRI yourself, Im sure wed have a better chance of understanding just what it is that were fighting."

Shinya cringed internally; the thought of lying still in a dark tunnel while his body was blasted with invisible rays wasnt really one that he liked to entertain. Kengo had always told him- but Kengo didnt exist anymore. He and Takaya were on their own; but that still didnt mean that he had to put himself into uncomfortable situations just to spite a memory.

"I dont think my brother would be willing to put himself through that," Takaya said, knowing just how much he wouldnt like that. "Where are you taking us, anyway?" he added, as they all continued on their way down the corridor. "Havent we cooperated with you enough?"

"Certainly. Youre both free to either stay here or leave, now," Freeman said calmly, and Shinya started to wonder idly if anything at all could faze him. "However, I _would_ like to show you something."

"Show us?" Takaya asked, after looking to him for a second opinion; hed shrugged in response. He didnt have any idea, either.

Freeman said nothing, simply turning and hitting a button on a keypad next to the door. What they saw in the room beyond the door was something that neither twin had wanted to ever see again; even though they had both suspected that they would.

"Thats-!" Takaya began.

"The Radam!"

"We know far too little about the Radam," Freeman said, in response to the double-voiced shout. "All we know, is that they come down to Earth as seed-pods just like this, which are then buried in the soil by those creatures you and D-Two keep destroying. Thats all that we know, right now."

"Thats all?" Shinya asked, seeing that Takaya was too busy glaring at the tanks filled with immature tekkapods to notice that there was someone talking to him.

"But now you two, who know the name and purpose of these organisms, have come here. You say that these creatures, Radam, mean to conquer the Earth," Freeman said, laying his hand on the tank of pods. "Is there anything else that you can tell me about them? What _are_ the Radam, anyway? How is it that you and your brother can become Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis, when you both have the same physical structure as an ordinary human being?"

"What has all your analysis told you?" Takaya asked, wary but curious.

"Unfortunately, its told us nothing we didnt know about you before," he said, obviously speaking to both twins.

"I see," Takaya said, seeming resigned. "I would have liked to know about all that stuff, myself. Why brother and I were chosen like this. But, the one thing I do know is that were the only ones on Earth who can defeat the Radam," he said, opening the glass container that held his and his brothers tekkasets. "Thats all."

"So, this is where we part ways," Shinya said, catching his crystal as Takaya tossed it to him. "Take care," he said, as Takaya came up beside him and bumped the back of his fingers; they would hold hands once they were out of the room, he knew; better not to reveal any weaknesses when they could avoid it.

"I hate to have to ask this again, but this ends our cooperation, right?" Takaya said, as they turned to leave.

"Indeed. But, even if you manage to leave us, neither of you are going to be able to find a space ship." He and Takaya both turned to look over their shoulders as Freeman said this. Neither of them quite knew what to think. This hadnt been in their plans at all. "I dont know where you boys intend to go, but how will you fight the Radam without a space ship?" Freeman paused, even as he and Takaya turned fully around to relieve the kinks in their necks before they could get really annoying. "So, it wouldnt be so bad an idea if you and your brother stayed here. It would be good for you, and for us as well."

Takaya frowned, and Shinya knew from his expression that he was being as patient as he could, under the circumstances. Neither of them liked being cornered. They left without another word.

When the door hissed closed behind them, leaving Freeman to do whatever it was he did during the day, he and Takaya clasped hands and continued on their way. It would have been nice to have at least some kind of a home-base, even though they would never really have a home again; even _he_ wasnt hardened enough not to be able to admit that. And he didnt think Takaya was, either.

Still, there was too much at stake for them to settle down somewhere; he wasnt stupid enough not to see _that_, either.

"So, how far do you think we are from the exits, Ta-kun?" Shinya asked idly.

"Well have to find out the long way," Takaya muttered, clearly annoyed with their current predicament.

"At least this ways better than asking the people here. I dont think theyd let us go if they knew we werent coming back."

"Theyd try to stop us," Takaya said flatly, as he continued moving closer to that large room at the end of the corridor.

It might have been an exit, or it might not have; either way they were going to find out soon.

VI

Watching Aki as she took down the last of her opponents for the day, Milly smiled as she heard the man throw in the proverbial towel. Hed managed to last one round longer than the others, so that was likely to be a point of pride for him, but after five rounds against Aki, anyone could be forgiven for giving up. Milly certainly knew that _she _didnt have the skills to compete against Aki in any kind of a combat situation.

"D-Boy! D-Two! Hi," she said, turning to face them. "Did you two come here for a visit?"

"So, is the physical exam all over?" Noal asked. "Or are you just waiting for them to get re-set for your brother?"

"Yes," D-Boy said. "Brother didnt want to participate, so I went in instead."

D-Two, for his part, didnt seem interested in saying anything, and was in fact standing about a foot behind his brother.

"Well, if thats all over with, then how about a test of physical strength?" Noal said, and Milly smiled. "And, since D-Two hasnt been doing anything lately, whats say you both join in?"

"I bet you both could be a good match for Aki!" she exclaimed cheerfully; that would be fun. "You might even last five minutes, or maybe more."

"He might be just some weakling unless he turns into Tekkaman Blade," Noal said. "D-Two also."

"Id like to see that, too. How about it, D-Boy? Would you and your brother like to fight me?" Aki said, and Milly smiled.

She kind of wanted to stick her tongue out at Noal, but since shed been trying to take things a bit more seriously since the aliens had invaded, she didnt. Then, D-Boy spoke up again.

"Not a chance," he said, and she wondered why he didnt sound enthusiastic; or why D-Two was just shaking his head. "What good will it do for brother and I to test our strength against you? Fighting the Radam is enough."

She couldnt understand why anyone would say something so _final _sounding, but D-Boy and his brother left before she could ask either of them what they had meant by that.

"What?" was all she could say.

"Radam shmadam; theyre obsessed," Noal said with the air of someone who didnt really care. "What a pair of freaks."

__

So strange, she mused. Strange, and a bit sad, or at least that was the feeling she had. Something told her that both of them were sad, but she didnt know what about; she didnt know if she would ever have the chance to find out, either.

VII

When he felt Shinya squeeze his hand lightly, Takaya almost smiled. Even if there were people out there who didnt understand why they did what they had to people who wanted them to stay here in spite of all the danger that that presented to both sides he still had his brother to stand by him. Takaya didnt quite know what hed be like if Shinya hadnt... escaped from the transformation process when he did. He didnt know, and he honestly didnt _want_ to know.

Shinya was with him here, now, and he wasnt going to waste time thinking about how things might have gone otherwise.

When they reached somewhere that looked like a large hangar, the first thing that Takaya noticed was the large, imposing bulk of the Blue Earth. Silently cursing his bad luck, and the generally confusing nature of the base, Takaya sighed.

__

[I guess this wasnt_ the right way,]_ he said.

__

[They dont even have any maps here,] Shinya said reasonably. _[I think more people than us might have gotten lost,]_ Shinya chuckled mentally. _[You think _they_ could find us?]_

He chuckled softly. _[Shin-chan, youre so silly.]_

[So are you, Ta-kun,] Shinya retorted, still smirking a bit. _[Anyway, you know you love me.]_

[Right,] he said, turning his attention outward to take in their surroundings again.

Now that he was really _looking_ at the place, he found that it looked like some kind of huge, high-tech garage; only with space ships and some guy in a robot-suit working on them. Hed seen a few of those suits back- _before_, but that wasnt what he was concentrating on right now. What they really needed at the moment was an exit.

Just as he and Shinya were turning to leave, though, the man who was working there the same one who had attempted to crush the life out of him not two days ago called out to them.

"D-Boy, do you have a crush on Milly? With the way you keep looking at her, someone might get ideas."

"I think someone already _has_," Shinya said, before Takaya could think of anything to say. "Anyway, I dont think brother meant to do anything like that; Milly just looks like our sister. Well, at least a bit."

The large man smiled wryly, then he became serious. "Where are you two planning to go, anyway?"

Shinya would have probably been able to fast-talk their way out of this, he was better with people than Takaya was, but what Takaya wanted more than anything was just to leave. Some things were best handled bluntly.

"Were actually looking for a way out," he said, folding his arms. He didnt know if this guy was going to try talking him and his brother out of leaving, the way the others seemed determined to do, but he wasnt going to stand for it. "My brother and I are going to be leaving after today, and I wanted to know the location of the main exit so we wouldnt have to waste time looking for it tomorrow."

"That makes a certain amount of sense," the man concluded gruffly. "Still, why dont you two just stay?"

__

[They dont know what theyre asking us to do,] Shinya said, squeezing his arm softly; Takaya bit back a smile.

He didnt want to have to explain what he was feeling so pleased to someone who wasnt and never would be, if he had any say in the matter part of the small piece of family he was fighting to keep by his side. It wouldnt help anything, and it would likely only make leaving all the more complicated. It was just best not to bring things like that up in the first place.

"We should go," he said, and Shinya nodded slightly as the two of them stepped away from the landing-gear and left the dry-dock behind.

__

[Well, that was a big bust. And not the good kind, either,] Shinya said, folding his arms behind his head and stretching as he walked.

__

[Shin-chan, you know how I said you were funny?]

[You never told me that, Ta-kun,] Shinya said, turning a slightly fish-eyed look on him.

__

[Its because youre not,] he said, giving Shinya a not-so-gentle, brotherly punch on the shoulder.

__

[You just have no sense of humor,] Shinya said, punching him back.

__

[I like a good joke just as much as the next guy. You_ just never have one,]_ he returned.

Shinya swatted him for that, but they were both smiling; both of them knew that neither of them meant anything by their little jibes. They would stay together through anything; not even all of the forces that the Radam could send against them would force them apart.

VIII

As they made their way through the base, searching for the exit in a place that had initially looked more promising than the one theyd been in when theyd inadvertently met that big man working on the Blue Earth, both brothers looked up as a loudspeaker started blaring.

-"Paging D-Boy, D-Two, and the Space Knights, report to the control room immediately. I repeat: D-Boy, D-Two, and the Space Knights are to report to the control room at once!"- Freemans voice blared out over the loudspeaker, calm as it always seemed to be.

The announcement, and the request that didnt sound quite like any kind of request that Shinya had heard so far, was repeated twice more, and he heard Takaya sigh in what had to be profound annoyance.

"So?" he raised an eyebrow, knowing that his brother would understand what he was getting at.

"We might as well answer it," Takaya said. "Maybe Freeman can tell us how to get _out_ of this maze."

"All right," he said, taking his brothers hand as they made their way back to the main control room.

He didnt know just what was going on, since neither the general-alert nor the emergency-alert had sounded before Freemans little announcement, but he hoped that it would give them a chance to find an exit from this labyrinthine command center that the Outer Space Development Group had set up for themselves. He knew that Takaya was hoping for the same; they were leaving today, no matter what else happened.

IX

When the various members of the Outer Space Development Group began to join them in the halls, all moving in the same direction, Takaya couldnt help but wonder just what was going on. It wasnt the general-alert, and he couldnt help the feeling that he and Shinya would have been the first to know if there had been another Radam attack, but something about this situation he wasnt getting the feeling that this had anything to do with the Radam invasion, but he didnt get a _good_ feeling about it, either.

Humans couldnt be as bad as the Radam, though; even Noal at his worst couldnt manage _that_.

It was the one truth that he knew, the one thing that kept him going: even with all their faults, humans were worth fighting for. The Space Knights proved that, and even if he wasnt going to allow himself to get close to any of them, Takaya would still do his best to protect them and the Earth. He and Shinya had both made that vow.

As they filed in through the door, side-by-side since these doors were wide enough to allow for that, Takaya caught his first glimpse of the tableaux on the other side. It wasnt a promising one. There were several men with guns, standing in front of Freeman and obviously holding him back from doing anything.

There was also a bald man in the room who all the attention seemed to be focused on; Takaya didnt like to think he was one to make snap-judgements, but the bald man looked like trouble.

"So, youre D-Boy; Tekkaman Blade, are you?" the bald man said, getting into his personal space, and then grabbing his chin to top it off! He growled, slapping the bald man away from him with more force than was perhaps strictly necessary.

"Full of pep! Thats what I like to see." Judging by the look he gave Shinya shortly after he said that, his brother had probably kicked the mans ankle; Takaya would have thanked him, but there were clearly more important things at stake right now.

Neither of them could afford distractions.

"Now, then. This is the first time that all of you have been assembled as Space Knights," Freeman said. "Since you were never permitted to identify yourselves as such until now."

"Chief, does that mean that its time now?" Noal demanded.

Before any answer could be given, the large main screen activated, displaying a man that was so clearly a soldier, Takaya knew before he spoke that he was working for Colbert. Not listening to the words that were exchanged between them, Takaya focused his attention on the vehicles and military equipment behind them. This display couldnt be anything but a threat.

"What, you mean you want us to turn Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis over to the _military_?" Noal said, sounding if anything mildly disgusted.

"Yes. And its not something thats up for debate," Colbert said smugly.

"Chief, dont tell me that youre just going to do what this guy says!" Noal snapped, and Blade was surprised to hear the man who seemed to hate them being so passionate in their defense; maybe he just hated the military more. "We dont have a choice, huh?" Noal stiffened slightly, and didnt say anything else.

"Precisely, my boy," Colbert said, sounding even more smug than before.

"D-Boy, its all up to you," Freeman said, coming over to speak with him more personally. "Will you and your brother cooperate with the military?"

"Cooperate?" he said, irritated but slightly amused. "Were not the ones who should worry about cooperating. The military should cooperate with us! The Allied Earth Military has no chance of defeating the Radam. Theres no one who can defeat them but brother and I! So its the military that should cooperate! Or they should just stay out of our way." He turned to rake Colbert and the other AEM soldiers with a sharp gaze. "You can all just hide in some corner and watch us!"

"Bastard!" one of the AEM soldiers raged; most of them pointed their guns at him, though some of them aimed at Shinya.

"Shoot me, then," he sneered, knowing that nothing like that would happen. "Id like to see you try it!"

"Fire," Shinya sneered at Colbert. "Go ahead,_ General_, have them aim right for my heart!" Shinya taunted, smirking as he pressed two fingers down on the center of his chest, his tone making the title sound like an insult. "Brother will _kill_ you!"

That might have been an exaggeration on his brothers part, but they both knew that the sentiment behind it was true. He _wasnt_ going to lose any more of his family. No matter what. "You want us alive, dont you, old man? "

Colbert snarled like a cornered tiger; a really ugly one. "Damn you!" he shouted, depressing what was obviously the transmitter button on his comm-link. "Open fire!"

The room shook and rumbled, and Shinya moved closer to him so that they could each draw a little strength from the others closeness.

"How did you like _that_! Now will you do as I say?" There was no response; he had to respect Freeman for not giving in to this Generals strong-arm tactics.

"General Colbert, we have only five minutes until it reaches the danger zone," Freeman said at last. Colbert just growled in response.

There was probably more to it than just what he was seeing, of course, but the rumbling didnt seem to be any worse, and no more than loose dust and other things of that ilk were falling from the ceiling. One of the aides announced that the Orbital Ring debris would be entering the atmosphere shortly, but that man Colbert didnt seem to care.

__

[Hes an idiot,] Shinya groused.

__

[Yes, he is,] he was _not_ going to be intimidated by _this_ idiot.

"Chief, theres a radio message for you," one of the comm. officers said, cutting into the tension that had been building up in the room.

"What? Just ignore it, then!" Colbert snapped.

"Its a top-priority message," she said.

"Dammit!" Colbert growled. "Who is it from, then?"

"Its from the President," Freeman said, and Takaya heard Shinya chuckling; he was even tempted to do so, himself.

If hed been in a position to have human friends, Takaya would have almost been willing to call this man one of them. He wasnt, though; friends could be killed, and humans were all the more vulnerable. They werent something he could afford the luxury of; Shinya was the only one who wouldnt die for standing at his side.

"Mr. Colbert, exactly what are _you_ doing at the Outer Space Development Groups headquarters?" the President and wow, was that weird to think about; they were facing _the President_ demanded.

"Im requesting that they place the Tekkamen Blade and Varis under the AEMs command, sir."

"Oh? Threatening them at gunpoint? Is _that_ what you call a request?" the President said, almost fiercely for all the calmness of his demeanor. Colbert tried to say something, but the President cut him off. "You idiot! I already know what youve been getting up to! From this day on, Im reinstating the Space Knights as a special task force. Theyll serve as a reserve force with the Tekkamen Blade and Varis, independent of the Allied Earth Military!"

"But, Mr. President-!"

"Im not making a request, Colbert," the President said, by now sounding a bit fed up with Colbert; Takaya couldnt blame him: hed just met the man a few minutes ago, and hed be perfectly happy never to see his ugly face again. "Im giving you an order! You are to call off your forces, and provide whatever aid that the Space Knights need to destroy that falling Ring section. Is that understood?"

The screen went white as the connection was terminated, and Takaya felt the niggling sense of his brother trying to contact him.

__

[Thats a funny look on his face, isnt it?] And here, Shinya somehow managed to give him an image of Colberts face as he spoke into his comm. unit. _[Eh, Ta-kun?]_

[Yeah,] he responded, amused.

"Belay my earlier orders; the attack is off!" Colbert said, with an expression on his face that suggested hed swallowed something unpleasant.

Things looked to be getting serious now, though, so Takaya put aside his earlier levity; he saw Shinya standing straighter out of the corner of his left eye.

"All right, everyone. Here are my orders, Space Knights."

"Hold on a second!" he said, after exchanging a speaking glance with Shinya. "We never said that we would join up with your Space Knights, you know. Brother and I arent going to take orders from _anyone_; not from the military, and not from you, either!"

"Still," he heard Shinya say, suppressing a smile as his younger twins shoulder touched his own. "The food here is probably a lot better than the slop that the military serves."

"Right." Freeman nodded, clearly accepting that answer even though he didnt state it outright. "Launch the Blue Earth at once!"

"Roger!" all of the Space Knights shouted; he and Shinya followed them as they left the control room.

X

Moving through the corridors at a brisk run, Shinya kept his eyes peeled for an actual exit. He knew that Takaya would be doing the same, since they were still going to be leaving this base soon. This was just an unexpected but necessary detour. They couldnt allow that debris to just crash into the Earth, not with what they both knew about physics; not and still call themselves human beings.

Once they had reached the Blue Earths hangar again, Shinya caught sight of Honda waving to him.

"Ive put in a new chair for you, D-Two," the large man said. "Its just behind and to the right of your brothers."

"Thank you," he called, on his way into the ship.

And, just as promised, there _was_ a new chair; it was within arms-reach of Takaya, and bolted securely to the floor. This obviously wasnt some kind of a temp-job; it made him almost uneasy about the fact that it would only be used this once. Still, it wasnt like they were obligated to stay with these people just because they were nice.

If anything, that was all the _more_ reason for them to leave quickly.

"The target is on course to reach the atmosphere in two minutes," Aki informed them, drawing Shinyas attention back to the present. "There it is!"

The exclamation wasnt particularly necessary, but Shinya could understand; it really was an awe-inspiring sight, that of the huge hunk of hollow metal beginning to burn as it fell faster and faster down the Earths gravity-well. And a tragic one, too; for all the people that would die if it was allowed to complete its trip.

"Youll have to head straight for it!" Takaya exclaimed, and Shinya took a deep breath to begin his mental preparations.

The physical would be taken care of when he transformed, of course.

"I know! Here we go!" Noal said, as he guided the Blue Earth closer to their destination.

"Wait, those are-" Aki said.

"More of the Radam," he muttered, as he and Takaya both climbed up and out of their seats.

"Theyre hiding in the debris," Takaya said.

They both made for the air lock, summoning their tekkasets almost before the inner-door had sealed behind them.

"Teksetta!" he shouted, even as he heard Takaya echoing him in nearly the same instant.

The energy of the transformation filled him, nearly making Shinya feel giddy from the sheer rush. The few senses that he could use in this kind of environment, and in this kind of armor hearing, sight, and to a slightly lesser extent, touch were enhanced even beyond the baseline enhancements that the Radam had originally granted him. When the transformation was complete, something he knew by the way the energies had stabilized, the second thing that Varis was aware of was the horde of Radams creatures coming his way.

The first was, as always, the comforting presence of his brother.

XI

Varis had already moved in front of him, and was making himself a lethal obstacle to any Radam creatures in his line of sight.

__

[Shinya, give me enough time to get into position. Ill wipe this whole thing out with my Voltekka.]

[Yeah,] his brother said, and Blade could tell that he was smiling. _[Ill give you all the time you need. Stay with me, brother.]_

[Were always together, Shin-chan,] he said warmly.

And so they continued to drive forward, destroying Radams creatures one-on-one, and splattering more than a few with their combined efforts; each working to move him into a position where he would be able to destroy this entire section of Orbital Ring debris with one shot. It would _have_ to be one shot; hed be too wiped out for another if this failed.

This one wouldnt fail, though; not with everything that was at stake.

Taking a deep, though admittedly unneeded, breath to steady himself, Blade began the charging process for his emitters. It would take some time to build up the energy he would need to get this done with one shot, but with Varis to keep the Radam creatures off his back while he let his body siphon the energy it needed, from... wherever that kind of energy could be drawn from, it wouldnt take nearly as long as it would if he were alone.

Feeling the energies of his contained Voltekka building almost to the point where he could no longer contain them, Blade turned his attention to his brother. _[Shinya, move back, I have them.]_

[Right, brother.]

He knew that Varis would want to stay with him, even if it wasnt particularly safe in the grand scheme of things, and there was no real point in trying to talk him out of it. They would always back the other up. It was just what they did.

__

[Damnit. Theyre not going to get away in time,] he said, as he raised his pauldrons and revealed his energy-condensers. _[Take care of them for me, brother.]_

[Yeah,] Varis said, turning and jetting off toward the Blue Earth. _[Ill do that, Ta-kun.]_

[Thank you,] he said, smiling.

Moving nearly into the mouth of the hollow hunk of space debris, Blade fired his Voltekka deep into he heart of the section of hollow Orbital Ring debris. A line of brilliant, coruscating explosions rushed outward from the point of impact, and Blade found himself smiling. His smile became a wide grin when he saw the results of Varis work: his brother had literally _shoved_ the Blue Earth out of the path of the explosion that had just finished consuming the Orbital Ring debris.

Heading back for the air lock, Blade gave his brother a discreet, low-five as they caught up to each other and flew back side-by-side to the Blue Earth.

__

[This isnt the end,] he said, the rush of battle having given way to the deep pessimism that had been ingrained in him by all that had happened ever since he and Varis had become what they were now.

__

[I know, brother. Until Omega is dead, this will never end,] Varis said, sounding like he was starting to get tired; come to think of it, so was he. _[Still, we won _now_. Thats enough for me.]_

[Right,] he said, nodding wearily. The last thing he saw, before he slumped to the floor in a dead faint, was Aki making her way into the air lock.

At least hed have a bed to sleep in after this ordeal.


	4. The star that fell from the sky

Finding D-Boy and D-Two both passed out on the floor of the air lock was starting to become something of a - mildly disturbing - tradition. They were both naked, the way they always seemed to be when they transformed back into their human forms; for whatever reason. Trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks, and the seriously distracting images that the more lavicious part of her brain was trying to impose on her - whipped cream and twincest was _not_ conductive to getting her job done, nor was it in any way remotely likely; not that she actually _wanted_ it to be - Aki went to grab a couple blankets from the hold. She'd been taking them along on the off-chance that either one or both of the twins would be called upon to transform.

Since she'd seen the results of that once before, and she'd thought that it was likely to be repeated under the same circumstances; she didn't know if being right made her feel better or worse about the situation, but she was more than a little embarrassed about it.

Once she'd gotten both boys wrapped up and strapped into the seats they'd been assigned on the ship, all the while ignoring whatever commentary Noal might have been making about the situation, Aki settled back into her own seat and set her mind on getting them all back down to Earth safely. They wouldn't do anyone any good if they ended up getting killed by some stray Radam beast before they made it back to OSDG Headquarters.

Especially when they were so very close to being defenseless.

I

When he woke up again, Takaya found that he wasnt, oddly enough, staring up at the ceiling of the infirmary the way he had been the last time something like this had happened. Nor, he realized, sitting up and looking around the small room he found himself inside, was his brother anywhere in evidence.

_[Shin-chan? Shinya!]_

_[No, really Ta-kun, I wasnt trying to get any sleep or anything. And you didn't _really_ wake me up.]_

_[I'm sorry, Shinya,] _he said, settling back onto the bed and looking around the room again. _[I was just worried; this is the first time I've woken up somewhere other than the infirmary.]_

_[Yeah; and the first time you woke up without me,]_ Shinya said, sounding thoughtful. _[At least since... everything happened.]_

_[Yeah.]_

Laying back down on the bed, Takaya wondered for a moment just how he and Shinya were going to be able to leave this place with a minimum of fuss. He knew that they wouldn't be able to leave _entirely_ without a fuss, since all of the Space Knights would be expecting them to keep staying on to help after what they'd gone out and done. Still, it wasn't as if they could have just ignored what was happening; that piece of Orbital Ring debris had obviously been one of the Radam's plans, and both he and Shinya had made a silent promise that they wouldn't allow the Radam to succeed in any of their plots; to say nothing of the damage and loss of life that they had prevented.

But just because they were willing to give what help was necessary, that didn't make them obligated to stay; he doubted the Space Knights would understand, but that was just the way things were.

Getting up, and grabbing the jacket off the table by the bed he'd been placed in, Takaya made his way down the hall in search of his younger brother. He'd found out about this strange extra power of theirs almost by accident, since whenever they were communicating with one another, he always managed to get a sense of just where Shinya was at the moment. For times like this, he was grateful to have it.

Still, there were other times when the full implications would start to sink in again and he'd shudder; after all, if it was this easy for him and Shinya to find each other, then it was probably just as easy for one of Omega's Tekkamen to find them.

II

He didn't really know just where he was anymore, but the place seemed pretty comfortable. It wasn't loud, it wasn't bright, and there was nothing else to distract him from the restful warmth that surrounded him on all sides. Nothing, that was, except for the slight feeling of _wrongness_ at the back of his mind. He didn't really know what any of that might be, since as far as he knew there wasn't anything... wherever he was that was capable of threatening him.

He felt a subtle twinge, almost an itch, at the back of his neck then. Before he could work up the will to scratch it - he really _was_ feeling astonishingly apathetic about everything - it dulled to barely anything and then stopped entirely. He was grateful for that, insomuch as he could be grateful about anything, and tried to settle back down into sleep.

There didn't seem to be anything else _to_ do, aside from sleep. Maybe try to find out where he was, but he found that he couldn't really work up the will for _that_, either. That probably should have worried him, at least just on general principle, but that would have taken effort to care about.

He was finding that effort of will extremely hard to maintain, and he didn't really care about _that_, either.

When he had resigned himself to never moving from this spot, not a hard thing in his current condition, he began to become aware of the... Whatever you would call whispering when you couldn't actually hear a word of it. _Spear_, it said, and _spear_ again; he wondered if that was supposed to mean anything.

Maybe his name? He didn't really have one to speak of; not that he was concerned, but it would be nice to have something to go by. The silent whispers grew more insistent, and so he decided to go along with them; he had a feeling that there would be less hassle this way, and it wasn't like it cost him anything to accept the name he was being given.

Spear was a very... sharp name, anyway. Once he'd made up his mind, not that he was being given many options either then or now, a sudden wave of tiredness rolled over him. It didn't make much sense, but Spear couldn't care; he was too tired now, for one thing, and the apathy still held him like a thick, sticky cocoon.

Lulled back into an apathetic doze by the presence within the tekkapods, the Tekkaman now known as Spear settled back into sleep.

III

Omega, through his connection to all of the Radam bio-technology within his ship, felt a sense of profound satisfaction. The human named Kengo Aiba had been particularly obstinate in his resistance to the mental reconditioning that was being imposed upon him; such a strong will would serve him quite well in his new life, but first he had to be made to accept that his old life was over. Such was the way with all Tekkamen, no matter their species.

He had been the same way, he knew; he had loved his own world - not so much the people that had shared it with him, but the world itself - and he had helped the Radam to add that world to their glorious empire.

It would be no different for any of these "humans" of his, once the traitors had been either captured - something he honestly preferred, but since he doubted it would be feasible with this small amount of warriors that had managed to survive the transformation process, he had to be pragmatic about matters - or killed. This earth planet of theirs reminded him oddly of his own home at times; the climate seemed warmer on the whole, yes, and the wildlife - that he had seen in the minds of his new warriors - was vastly different, but other than that...

Perhaps he was merely becoming homesick after so long; he made up his mind to pay a visit once he had finished with this planet. The triumphant conqueror, returning home with his spoils of war. Yes, that would suit him nicely.

IV

Sitting in the room that Shinya had been moved to by the Outer Space Development Group, Takaya considered it. It hadn't been that far away from his own, and was furnished in the same way. The rooms themselves were generic enough that they could really be used by anyone, which was a good thing, considering the fact that the Outer Space Development Group were going to have to assign them to someone else after he and Shinya had left.

Which they were finally going to do today; he'd learned enough about the layout of this OSDG Headquarters of theirs that he was confidant he wouldn't get them lost again while they were looking for the exit.

"So it's time now, brother?" Shinya asked, leaning back on his hands as they both sat on the bed together.

"Right, Shinya," he nodded. "I've seen enough of this place to get out without getting lost this time."

"Noal would be happy to hear that," his brother said, with a sidelong, sardonic smirk. "That's if we were actually going to tell anyone about our plans."

"I know."

That was the problem with working alongside people like the Space Knights: it was easy to start to respect their courage and their convictions, and then to want to stay on to help them. To become a part of the family they had so obviously formed for themselves out of what had once been just working relationships. But, all of the Space Knights were human... and he and Shinya had already had a family.

Taking his brother's hand, Takaya began to make his way out the door and back into the hall. He didn't care how long it took him this time, he _was_ going to find a way out of this command center before he and Shinya fell in with these Space Knights by default. He knew that it was possible to stay around people long enough that the act of leaving would start to seem more difficult than the decision to stay, and he was hoping to avoid that.

Leaving aside the mistrust that Noal so clearly had for them, all of the other Space Knights were just the kind of people that he could find himself coming to like. They'd discussed it while they were making their plans, so he knew that Shinya felt just the same. Aki and Milly in particular seemed intent on getting them to stay, although clearly for different reasons, and he didn't want anything to do with either of them.

Not so much for his own sake as for theirs. Still, there were selfish elements to his desire to leave quickly; Milly was an almost dead-ringer for... someone that he and Shinya had both been very close to. Dealing with the constant reminder of all that they had lost wasn't appealing to either of them, and so Takaya moved more quickly through the corridors.

The more quickly they left this OSDG Headquarters and all of the Space Knights behind, the better it would suit them both.

"Strange," Shinya said, pausing in mid-step. "Ta-kun, do you hear people talking?"

Just as he was about to answer in the negative, Takaya began to hear the same voices that had brought his brother up short. "I think that's Levin," he said.

"Sounds like he's talking about _you_," Shinya said, giving him another sidelong smirk.

Stopping to listen, Takaya found that the people in the next room _did_ indeed seem to be talking about him. Noal was there, the way he always seemed to be lately. Deciding that they could spare a minute or two to satisfy their curiosity, Takaya stopped in the hall just outside the room.

V

"You mean, you both believe that crap those kids are spouting?" he said, looking at the hand of cards, some that he'd been dealt, and some that he'd picked up for himself during the course of the game. "I'll take another card," he slanted a look at Levin.

"You bet I do!" Levin leaned back, holding his cards up again. "Those boys are wonderful! I'd let them do anything they wanted to me, no problem! I'll take two more cards."

He scoffed. "I think with you, that's more a case of _lust_ than trust," he let his gaze pass over Honda and Levin both; looking for any hints about what kind of cards they might have held. "Still, do you think you could keep your twin threesome fantasies to yourself? I'm sure our D-Boys have more than enough action without _you_ trying to horn in on any of it."

"You really think so, Noal? I don't know," Levin added pensively. "They're brothers; it's only natural they'd be so close," he looked over his hand again. "Still; they're both so beautiful! D-Boy shines like the moon; pale and sensuous! D-Two is as mysterious and alluring as space itself! Their strong, masculine chests; their sharp, graceful waists... Ah! I could just burst! I really wish they could both stay in their Tekkaman forms all the time."

"Well, they're the perfect men for a mecha-loving weirdo like you, then," he said, rolling his eyes and settling back to look at his cards.

"What was _that_?" Levin demanded; Noal ignored him.

"What do _you_ think of them, old man?"

"It's true that there's a lot we don't know about D-Boy and his brother," Honda said. "And, there's some creature, or robot, on the other side that looks a lot like them. Even so..." old man Honda trailed off, and he seemed to be thinking deeply on something. "I think those boys can be trusted."

"Honda's right! There's just no way people as cute as our Tekkamen could be evil!" Levin exclaimed. The giant lipstick heart with the word "love" written in it was a bit unexpected, but Noal figured that he _should_ have been expecting it, what with the way Levin had been going on.

"You're both way too trusting!" he exclaimed, exasperated. "All right, let's call this game."

"I've got queens; three of a kind!" Levin said, laying his cards on the table; it was a good hand, but nowhere near as good as Noal's own.

"I've got kings; three of a kind," Honda said; he would have beaten Levin, if Honda had only been playing against him.

Still, might as well have a bit of fun with them. He groaned, not too theatrically of course, he wanted to make this believable, and threw down his own hand. Carefully, so he wouldn't reveal his trump card, but harshly enough that he looked believably petulant, if he did say so himself. "Oh, shoot!"

Noal almost gave himself away by smirking. Honda laughed, and Noal knew he had him.

"Hold on," he said, blocking the large man's hand just as he started to reach for the pot.

"Uh-uh, no way!" Honda said, wagging his finger. "No backing out of a competition, you know."

Smirking at last, Noal reached down to reveal his trump card.

"What the hell? You've got a Joker?" Honda exclaimed. _Gotcha_, Noal thought.

"He has _four_ of a kind," Levin said, staring down at the cards all laid out on the table.

"That's right," he said, with a wink to show there were no hard feelings. "Now do you understand? If you trust someone too much, you're just going to end up digging your own grave. It's the same in poker as in life."

"Boys!" Levin said suddenly. "D-Boy! D-Two! Why don't you come over here and join us? It's really fun!"

"You're just wasting you're time, asking _them_ to join in. They're not like us, you know?"

"Oh, D-Two heard you say that," Levin said, starting to sound amused.

"Why d'you say that?" he asked, vaguely curious.

"He's giving you the finger."

"_What_?" he looked up, and sure enough; D-Two, standing next to his brother, with his back squarely facing him - like someone who didn't have a care in the world - had his left arm raised, and his middle finger extended in the universal gesture for "fuck you".

VI

"He saw me?" he asked, after he had heard Levin enlightening Noal about his current activities.

"He saw you," Takaya said, continuing to look over his shoulder at the card game that had evidently just ended. "He's angry now."

"Good," he said, then turned to stare Noal right in the face, Levin was laughing softly next to him, he could tell from the way he was moving. Pulling down his right eyelid, he stuck his tongue out at the blond. Levin thought it was hysterical, but his main focus was on Noal.

Noal wasn't amused.

Turning on his heel, Shinya left the room beside his brother. "Well, we know what they were talking about, brother," he was perfectly willing to admit that this little detour was as much for his benefit as it was Takaya's. "Do we leave now?"

"Yes," Takaya looked back over his shoulder for a few moments. "We really should."

"If you're still thinking about what Noal was saying about us, don't," he said, putting his left hand on his brothers right shoulder. "He's an idiot."

"Not Noal; Honda," Takaya said, sounding morose; moreso than usual, anyway. "He's right: they _don't_ know much about us."

"Isn't that what we wanted?"

Before his brother could make any kind of response to that, Aki came around the corner. She had the mien of someone who was looking for something, and when she saw them she smiled.

"I'm glad I found you," she said, smiling. "But, if you wanted a tour of our headquarters, you could have always asked."

"Sorry, we didn't think about that," he said, since Takaya didn't seem like he was going to say anything.

"You've been alone too long, I guess," she said, and sounded sad enough about it that he had to smile, if only just a bit. "The Chief wants us to gather some more samples from those plants the Radam have been spreading out all over the Earth, and I was wondering if you two would like to come with me. I think it'd be good for you boys to know whats been going on Earth for all this time. You've both lost so many memories," she said, looking at them with sympathy plain in her eyes.

At least it wasnt pity.

"I guess we could do that," he said, after looking to Takaya for confirmation. "Are we going to be taking the Blue Earth?"

"No," she shook her head. "A job like this would be better suited for the Polaris," he was confused, but she continued quickly enough that neither he nor Takaya had the chance to ask any questions. "That's the transport we used to take you and D-Boy back to Headquarters with us."

"Oh," he said. "All right."

_[Something else to keep us here, eh?]_ Takaya asked, sounding wistful.

_[You didn't say anything,]_ he said, feeling mildly reproving.

_[I guess...]_

_[What is it?]_ he asked, concerned; that wasn't a tone Takaya usually used.

_[Nothing important.]_

_[I thought we weren't going to keep things from each other. We're all that's left, remember?]_ he countered.

_[I've just been thinking about the future,]_ his brother said, sounding contemplative.

_[What do you mean, Ta-kun?]_

"We're here," Aki said, breaking into the conversation she didn't even know was happening.

"Great," he said, smiling. "Let's go."

"All right," she said, punching in a code to open the doors; Shinya didn't bother to pay attention beyond that.

He didn't really think they'd be leaving anytime soon, but they'd probably be issued codes - or taught them, at least - when they were fully inducted into the ranks of these Space Knights.

_[So, we're going to stay for a bit longer, Ta-kun?]_

_[I guess,]_ Takaya said, taking his hand as Aki lead them into the hangar, and they stood in front of the Polaris for the first time.

"Now, since Noal isn't here," _[Thank God,]_ he interjected, and saw Takaya struggling to hold back laughter. "I'll be the one flying today. Normally, the Polaris here requires both a pilot and a navigator, but I thought-"

"You thought that, since we could fly the Blue Earth, one of us could take the post of navigator," Shinya finished, just as Aki began to look uneasy about continuing.

It wasn't exactly one of their finest moments, stealing the Blue Earth and using it to fly up to attack the Radam infesting the Orbital Ring; it was nice of her not to bring it up.

"That is what I was thinking," Aki said, smiling.

"I'll take care of navigation," Takaya said, before he could open his mouth to say anything.

"All right," Aki said, smiling at the both of them. "Let's get going."

Tucking his hands into the pockets of his white Space Knight pants, Shinya followed his brother and Aki into the Polaris hangar. It was kind of interesting, seeing the ship from the outside for the first time. They didn't see it for very long, of course, since they were boarding it at the time, but it was interesting all the same.

It was starting to look like they were going to be staying here for awhile, so he might as well learn the layout of the base more intimately.

VII

Settling himself into the navigation station in the Polaris, Takaya looked back over his shoulder as his brother settled into the seat next to him. It was good to have him there, but he was starting to have second thoughts about going out on this mission for the Space Knights. They were going to be heading out into the heart of the Radam's power on Earth; one of the many places where they had planted their tekkapods with the aid of their mindless beasts.

He hated them; he hated everything they had done, and everything they were trying to do.

Aki, who didn't have nearly the same level of experience with the Radam as they had - and, if he had anything to say about it, she never would - took a moment to program the auto-pilot. He started to wonder why, but before he could ask, she was talking.

"D-Boy, there's something that you and your brother really should know," she said. "Look. This area has already been completely covered with Radam plants and Radam trees."

He knew; he wanted to say that. He and Shinya _both_ knew just how and when - but not, he hated to say, _why_ - Omega and his monsters had seeded the Earth with the giant masses of tekkapods that he could see passing beneath the belly of the Polaris. He knew that there was something that he _should_ have known about them, something that was important to the Radam and therefore all the more reason that the plants growing beneath them needed to be destroyed, but for the life of him he couldn't think of it. He and Shinya had discussed it often in the days since they had been transformed, so he knew that his brother wasn't in any better shape.

"It's not just here, either," she paused for a moment, probably needing to marshal her thoughts; he wasn't particularly concerned. "All of the major cities on Earth have already been covered."

Shinya had been right, they were all they had; joining up with the Space Knights would just burden them with the fate of people who could die entirely too easily. It was best that they both left after this last mission. Better for everyone involved if they just disappeared.

"After Radam's monsters descended to Earth, destroying everything in their path, they turned into plants somehow," Aki continued. "They begin by invading densely populated areas," she said, as the Polaris passed over a particularly thick cluster of tekkapods. "Or, maybe I should say that they begin by colonizing them. Anyway, most of the major cities in the world are covered with Radam trees now. We still don't know why the Radam have planted their trees all over the Earth, the way they've done here. All we really _do_ know, is that so far none of the trees have harmed any humans. But, there's really no way to know when these things might start; and not just people, these trees could be a serious threat to the Earth itself! Before these plants can start causing any trouble, we have to find a way to destroy them!"

_[She sounds so confident about that,]_ Shinya said, clearly paying more attention to the tekkapods on the ground than to what he was saying; it was even possible that he hadn't intended to use his telepathy at all. _[Of_ course_ they haven't harmed anyone. They're not even fully grown yet.]_

_[Yeah. I'd burn all of these plants to the ground myself if I could,]_ he said, deciding to respond whether or not his brother had consciously intended to start a conversation.

_[So would I.]_

"D-Boy! Don't just sit there in silence! Say something, will you?" Aki shouted suddenly. "The Earth is in danger every minute! Don't either of you feel _anything_?"

"Well, what do you want us to say?" he asked, slightly annoyed at having his contemplation interrupted, even in spite of the fact that Aki most likely hadn't even known that they were thinking about anything. "Why do you even care?"

"I- well, I just wanted you two to know what was going on. Since you're comrades of the Space Knights now," she said, staring at him with a subtly reproving expression.

"I don't think its a good idea for you to get too used to us being here, Aki-san," Shinya said, speaking aloud for the first time since they'd set off on this mission of theirs. "We're not really your comrades."

"Your people should just support us, and try to stay out of our way," he said; he wasn't going to risk opening his heart again, not with the Radam here in force. Not to humans. "There's really nothing else you _can_ do."

Aki didn't say anything else after that, just looked reprovingly at him and Shinya, as though she was disappointed in them. She was going to have to get used to that feeling, if she kept expecting him and Shinya to stay.

Turning his attention back to the outside world, he found that the Polaris was settling down to land in a small clearing. It was just on the edge of a thick cluster of immature tekkapods, but since that was what they were all out here to study, he supposed he couldn't really complain about that too much. Shinya would probably see to that.

"That'll do, for now," she said; he wasn't sure if she meant that as a promise or a threat. "Follow me and I'll get you two prepared to leave the ship."

"How?" Shinya asked, rising from his seat and falling into step just behind him; Takaya was glad for the company. It would be easier to deal with Aki if he wasn't the only one trying to argue his point.

"Since we don't know the effects of the gas that these plants release into the air would have on a human body, the Chief has given orders that anyone trying to take samples be equipped with a breather-mask, if not a full Hazmat setup."

"That makes sense," he said, not wanting to be any more exposed to the tekkapods than he had to be; when he paused to think about it for a moment, he realized that he _knew_ what the gas that the tekkapods released would do to an unprotected human: at its full potency, released from a mature tekkaplant, the gas would serve to knock any human in the area unconscious.

It would leave them defenseless; easy prey for the tekkapods to snap up.

"Let's get going," Shinya said, as they made their way into the storage area amidships.

"Right," Aki said.

Soon enough, the three of them were walking down the boarding-ramp with the special breather-masks fitted to their faces. He almost found himself listening for the exaggerated, raspy breathing that his brother would usually be doing at a time like this. But that was something the old Shinya - _Aiba_ Shinya, Shinya-sune - would do; this new Shinya was more serious, more defensive of them both, than that Shinya had ever been.

There were times he missed his lazy, silly younger twin brother; but Aiba Shinya and Aiba Takaya were hardly suited to fight a guerrilla war with the Radam Empire.

Aki walked away from the Polaris carrying a large, gunmetal gray case. Probably some sort of portable computer. He and Shinya stayed behind, knowing that she wasnt in any real danger from this batch of immature tekkaplants; still, they would both stay close behind.

There was ash, still drifting in the air from the destruction that the Radam's beasts had caused. It looked enough like snow that Takaya almost found himself expecting cold breezes to start blowing in at any moment. Up ahead, crouched before one of the largest of the tekkaplants, Aki was muttering to herself.

He stood atop a wide, curled tekkaplant root whose exposed surface had been covered in ash. It made a good vantage-point to survey the lay of the land, and to make sure that no one could sneak up on them without him knowing about it. Shinya stood next to him, facing the opposite direction; they might not have been staying, but he would be damned if he let someone else die on his watch.

All the while, as he continued to keep his senses primed to detect any incursion by the Radam, he found that he couldn't help turning Aki's words over in his head.

_[What do you think of them, Shinya?]_

_[The Space Knights? Well, aside from Noal, I think I like them. I mean, that Chief of theirs is a bit strange, but from the things I've seen him do, I think he'd be trustworthy when it mattered. Should I ask why you want to know, Ta-kun?]_

_[No; I think you know what I mean, Shinya,]_ he said, feeling his lips curl into a small, almost unnoticeable smile.

_[Oh, I definitely do.]_ Shinya returned, and Takaya could just hear the smile in his brothers voice.

_[I think you just might,]_ he said, smiling a bit wider. Before he could say anything else, though, he heard a sudden, sharp scream piercing the air; there was only one person it could be. _Aki!_

VIII

This forest had a strange beauty all its own, but for all that it was still incredibly dangerous. She knew that just as well as anyone, after what had happened...

While she had been successful in blocking out the thoughts of what had actually _happened _to the people who had once lived in this place - the same way that she had done with all of the other places that the Radam had rolled over in their attempts to conquer the world; attempts that would fail, if she and the other Space Knights had anything to say about it - seeing that doll in the heap of ashes that had coated the whole of this place - what had once been a normal neighborhood like any other, like _hers_ had been before - had brought the feelings all roaring back. Full force; she _couldn't_ pretend not to see something like _this_.

It just wasn't in her.

The twins were at her side in what seemed like half a second; D-Boy asking her what was the matter, and D-Two crouching down beside her to check for any injuries. She was grateful to them both; but sympathy wasn't all she needed right now. Not even all the sympathy in the world would bring the dead back to life.

"Aki? Why are you crying?" D-Two asked, reaching out to gently touch the side of her head; it might not have been very polite of him, but Aki leaned into his hand and smiled sadly.

"Thank you, D-Two," she said, swallowing past a lump in her throat. "I didn't really want you to see me like this."

"Aki, was your hometown destroyed by the Radam?" D-Boy asked.

"It's completely covered in Radam trees now," she said, digging the doll free from its prison of ashes. "These Radam trees are a sign of tragedy for all humanity. Still, researching them - trying to find a way to get rid of them - is my way of fighting back."

Leaning into D-Two as he put an arm around her shoulders, she held the doll for a long moment, before she brushed the last of the ash from the bedraggled doll, and stood back up. D-Two's right arm was still around her shoulders, though how he'd managed that without leaning on her for support she didn't quite know, and she was grateful to him for staying with her.

She just wished that he and his brother would decide to stay longer; that was all.

"Aki? Is there anything that brother and I could do to help you?"

IX

She said nothing, walking back and handing him the doll even he saw Shinya's semi-confused look from over her shoulder. He didn't know just what had made him ask that; it was a stupid question, for one thing, and he hadn't even really gotten an answer.

The next thing he knew, they were making their way back to the Polaris, evidently finished with their excursion for the day. He was glad to be going back; glad, not so much to be fighting _for_ people rather than against them, but just that he and Shinya had somewhere to go. He wasn't going to try to make friends with these Space Knights, but he would do all that he could to protect them.

Once they were back inside the Polaris and settled comfortably in the seats for take-off, Takaya considered what Aki had been saying. It was pretty much an unspoken consensus that they were going to stay on with the Space Knights and help them with their fight against the Radam, but maybe one of them would end up telling her later. Still, it looked like she was going to be pretty busy for awhile, and they still had to get settled in if they were going to be of any use to the Space Knights.

They wouldn't do anyone any good if they kept getting lost all the time.

X

When he'd finished sharking Honda at cards, and won a very nice antique quartz watch on top of that, Noal gathered up his various winnings and headed back to his quarters. There didn't seem to be anything that needed the Space Knights' attention today - a situation that probably wasn't going to last very long, he knew from bitter experience - so he was determined to take advantage of what downtime he was being given. He'd probably have to deal with the Gemini Boys sooner than later, and he wanted to be rested enough that he wouldn't end up snapping at them too much. Aki hated it when he did that.

He still wasnt going to trust them so easily, of course; good things did _not_ just fall out of the sky the way these two had done. The only thing that fell out of the sky these days was trouble, and these two definitely fit the bill. He didn't know just what their angle was yet, but he was going to make it his business to find out.

XI

When the three of them had returned to OSDG Headquarters - somewhere Shinya figured he was going to have to start getting used to; once Takaya got an idea in his head, he wasnt the type to abandon it until it had either panned out or... not - they followed Aki to a place that had been designated "computer room three". It gave him something of an idea just how large this command center of theirs was. There were only two chairs in the room, though; both bolted to the floor on swivels so you couldn't shift their positions much.

At least, not in any real way.

It had been mutually decided that Takaya would handle the computer, since he was more inclined to use them for actual _work_ instead of just goofing off the way Shinya tended to like doing. Needless to say, this proved to be of some interest to Aki.

"You both lost your memories, but you remember how to operate a computer, D-Boy?" she said.

"Yeah, I do."

_[Nicely covered, Ta-kun,]_ he said, after his older twins slight hesitation. _[I bet Aki-san won't suspect a thing.]_

"There's something called the Object-naming Exam, designed for people who've lost their memories to re-learn the names of everyday things, and how to use them, so they can function better, and maybe even regain some of what they've lost." Aki looked from Takaya to him. "I think you might want to consider taking it, if you can, D-Two, since D-Boy seems to remember more than you do."

"I don't know," he said, leaning forward so he could look over his brother's left shoulder. "I don't think we're going to have any time for things like that; besides, I have brother here to help me. I'm sure I'll be all right."

Aki looked understanding after hearing that, so Shinya knew he'd found just the right thing to say. "I guess you're right about that, D-Two. I just hope the two of you come out all right."

"Thank you for your concern," Takaya said.

Before anyone else could say anything, the alarm started to go off. And, since this didn't sound much like the 'general-alert' - though he'd only heard _that_ once - Shinya figured that he and Takaya had better start heading for the main part of the command center. The way Aki shot up out of her chair made him all the more certain that he had guessed right.

"Another Radam attack, eh?" he said, resigned for the most part, but still kind of annoyed; Takaya was almost the direct opposite.

Leaving the computer room at a sprint, they fell in behind Aki as she made her way swiftly back to the comm. room at the rough center of OSDG Headquarters. It didn't take them too long to make it there, which was good, since he might have been tempted to put on enough speed to outrun Aki, and that might have ended up getting him lost again. He could tell that Takaya had been thinking along the same lines.

When they finally reached the comm. room - the doors sliding apart to admit them the way he'd seen them do before - he saw Chief Freeman turn to look at them.

"We've discovered an unidentified flying object in the stratosphere," the man said, though he seemed as reserved as ever; Shinya was starting to suspect that this was just the way he was. "Space Knights, you're to mobilize immediately to investigate it," he said, as the screen behind him began to display something that Shinya almost felt should be familiar to him; it felt like something the Radam had taught him to recognize, so that was already a reason to hate it. "If it has anything to do with the Radam, you're authorized to destroy it. But, don't forget about the "Demons of the Stratosphere"."

"Demons of the stratosphere?" Takaya asked; Shinya wondered what that meant, as well.

Freeman walked over to the main computer and started to type, changing the view on the screen to one of the things that Shinya would have been just as happy _not_ to see: one of Radam's flying beasts. "Look at this," he said.

"They're flying Radam monsters that go after ships in the stratosphere," Aki said, sounding purely disgusted; a sentiment that he and his brother both unreservedly shared.

"Those are the ones you _really_ don't want to run into," Noal said; he had his eyes closed so he looked more calm.

"Go now, Space Knights!" Freeman - maybe he should start trying to think of him as Chief, though - said, in that fierce way he had.

"Ro-," Takaya said, quickly cutting himself off.

"Yes, Chief," Shinya added.

Aki's soft, quickly suppressed laugh let him know that they'd _definitely_ said the right thing. And who knew, maybe with their help, these Space Knights would manage to survive what was coming. He could at least hope so.

XII

As they all made their way back down the corridors of OSDG Headquarters on their way to Hangar Three and the Blue Earth, Aki smiled. She'd had a good feeling about the twins, once they'd had a chance to settle in and to realize that the Space Knights were fighting for the same thing that they were. Whatever the reasons they'd had for wanting to continue fighting alone, they were all better off now that D-Boy and his brother had decided to stay.

She decided then to tell them just that. "I'm glad you two decided to stay," she said, ignoring Noal's scoff and eyeroll. "We need all the help we can get."

She thought D-Boy might have muttered something, probably something not-so-nice, judging by the way D-Two dug his elbow into his brother's ribs. He tried to be subtle about it, but Aki was good at spotting things like that. She almost wondered what D-Boy had just said, but D-Two smiled and started speaking before she could ask.

"We're happy to help," D-Two said, his smile looking genuine; for the most part, Aki thought that she could still see some degree of unease there.

She didn't quite know why yet, but she was determined to find out when time permitted. Now, though, when they were standing at the threshold of Hangar Three as the heavy doors opened in front of them, really wasn't the time for that kind of thing, though. Still, as they all piled into the Blue Earth and took their respective stations in preparation for takeoff, Aki found herself watching the twins as they settled into the seats they'd been assigned.

There was clearly a lot more to them than they wanted to let on, and she wanted to find out what it was.

"Look at this, Aki! Isn't it something?" Noal preened. "This is the antique quartz watch I won from old man Honda. Hey, Aki, when both hands overlap at midnight, why don't you and I-"

"Launch preparations complete," she cut him off quickly, deciding not to listen to whatever inane thing Noal was talking about; Noal would say it was a guy thing, and that she couldn't understand because of that; she would have said it was an _idiot_ thing, and that no one sane _could_ have understood it.

And then they would get into an argument that would take up valuable time. Not to mention making them look crazy in front of the twins. Best not to say anything.

The launch proceeded normally, at least up until they had left the last vestiges of the upper-atmosphere behind. Then, just as she began to see the first, leading edge of the legions that the Radam had sent out to surround the Radam construct that Chief Freeman had wanted them to investigate. But, more than that, there was the Radam construct itself.

"We're moving into the stratosphere!" she informed them all. "Target confirmed!"

"That's it!" D-Boy snarled, leaning forward in his seat, looking for all the world like he wanted to leap out of his seat and transform right then and there.

But, just a second or two later, D-Boy seemed to re-collect himself, and settled back into his seat. D-Two seemed to be completely calm throughout the whole situation, though when she looked at his face, there was a clear expression of restrained anger there. Violence, just barely contained.

It was sort of frightening, how intense D-Two could be; he seemed so laid-back most of the time, but still waters often ran the deepest, she knew.

"Geez, those demons don't look like _anything_ from Earth!" Noal exclaimed.

"An unidentified object is approaching quickly from behind," she said, checking the radar screen.

"Damn! Its one of the Demons in the Stratosphere!" Noal exclaimed.

No one had anything to say to that.

XIII

When the ship pitched violently, slammed from the side by one of Omega's beasts, Takaya gritted his teeth and glared at one that had just appeared in front of the cockpit windows. _[Let's go now.]_

_[Right, brother.]_

Shinya's response brought a small smile to his face; Noal's, not so much: "Good luck out there, D-Boys!" he said, but Takaya could tell he didn't mean it.

Aki's shouting the pilot's name was quickly followed by Shinya's response. "Stop being an idiot, Noal."

"Why, you little-"

"Oh, shut up already," Shinya said, cutting Noal off before he could work up to some kind of a tirade.

"We're the only ones who can fight the Radam, Noal," he said at last, getting the last word by the simple expedient of taking his brother's arm and pulling him toward the air lock.

_[Why are we putting up with him, brother?]_ Shinya asked.

_[He's a member of the Space Knights,]_ Takaya said, a slight, bitter smirk pulling at his lips.

Standing beside his brother inside the airlock, for the third time since they had joined up with the Space Knights - but only the first since they had declared themselves to be members of the team - Takaya raised his crystal, and felt the subtle, answering resonance that let him know Shinya had raised his own.

"Teksetta!" he shouted, almost perfectly in time with his brother.

As the energy filled him, and the air lock released them both, Blade headed for the swarming Radam beasts and whatever it was they were guarding.

_[Are you getting the same bad feeling about that thing back there, or am I just being paranoid?]_

_[I am, Shin-chan,]_ he answered. _[I definitely don't like the look of that purple thing.]_

Before they could deal with whatever new thing the Radam had set out for them, however, they had to make sure that the Blue Earth wasn't in any immediate danger. Knowing that there was at least one - though probably a lot more - of Radam's beasts coming up from the right, he landed atop the ship and looked around. Sure enough, there were two creatures in close to the ship, as well as a larger number that he didn't bother to count farther out.

It didn't really matter, though; they'd be dealing with those things soon enough.

"Damned bugs," Varis said.

"Die!" he said, drawing his lancer and watching as Varis did the same.

The space around them was periodically crisscrossed with the beasts' sticky venom, but he and Varis dodged it easily as they passed back and forth over the Blue Earth, protecting her from any and all Radam beasts in the vicinity. Hacking his way through the press with his lancer, Blade spied Varis spearing a knot of Radam beasts with the energy-ribbon contained within his own. He would have thought to launch his bladed boomerangs, but he knew he couldn't control them nearly as well as Varis could his energy-ribbon.

He would have to take care of them the hard way.

Raising his lancer, joined together into its double-ended form, he carved through any of the Radam beasts that managed to make it past his brother. Knowing that Varis would back him up if he really needed it, and that his brother would protect the Blue Earth if he got too far away, Blade began to hack and slash his way closer to the large, purple mass that the Radam's beasts seemed to be protecting. It obviously had something to do with the Radam, or else they wouldn't be going to so much trouble to block his way; for that he hated it, and he _would_ destroy it.

Carving his way through another pair of beasts, Blade felt something slam into his back. It wasn't one of Radam's beasts, he would have known in an instant if it was and he would have been in a lot more trouble besides, but when he tried to fire his thrusters and maneuver himself back into the battle, he found that his movements were sluggish and barely responsive; it had to have been a spray of their venom.

_[Shinya, get Aki and Noal out of there!]_ he shouted over their link; Varis would probably be annoyed with him later, but it was all he could do.

He wasn't much good to anyone if he could barely move.

_[What? Takaya, what are you thinking? I won't leave you!]_

_[Shin-chan, listen,]_ he said, trying to be calm, even as he raised his lancer again and prepared to defend himself._ [One of the Radam beasts hit my thrusters; I'll kill them and then I'll meet back up with you.]_

_[What happens when one of them moves too fast for you?]_ Varis demanded; and out of the corner of his eye, he could see his brother moving in to back him up. _[You're not moving like they can; one of them could kill you without any trouble.]_

_[I'm not helpless, Shinya,] _he grumbled, though he _was_ grateful to see Varis so close at hand.

_[You might as well be,]_ Varis said.

_Blunt as ever,_ he mused, deliberately keeping his mental walls up. _[Thank you, Shinya.]_

Another of the beasts slammed into them then, trying to force the two of them apart. Grabbing his brother's hand as it was offered to him, he raised his lancer in his opposite hand and saw Varis doing the same. Ramming the point of his lancer into the fleshy back of the Radam beast, even as the thing's momentum drove them away from the Blue Earth, he looked ahead to see the Earth itself looming closer.

_[Shinya, we have to escape. The Blue Earth is still in danger.]_

_[I'll get our lancers, brother, then fly us both back to the Blue Earth.]_

Just then, though, as if to mock their efforts at escape, the thin, leg-like spines on the fleshy underside of the Radam beast they had inadvertently hitched a ride on closed over them. Pinned to the creature's back, all Blade could do was laugh; nothing was really funny about the situation, not when you really thought about it, but Blade found that he couldn't quite help himself. All of that work, and _this_ was how they ended up.

It was either laugh or scream; laughing hurt his throat less.

As the beast dragged them inexorably back to Earth, Blade sifted through his available options. What few of them there were right now, anyway; they were both about as stuck as one could possibly get, flattened against the back of one of Radam's beasts with no way to retrieve their weapons, and he didn't know yet how to deal with that.

_[Now what?]_ he asked, even as he started to feel strangely weak.

_[I don't know, brother. But, I-]_ Varis said, sounding more worried than Blade would have honestly expected him to.

_[What is it, Shinya?]_ he asked, hoping that what was starting to happen to him wasn't happening to his brother.

_[I feel... I don't know, weak all of a sudden. I don't know whats happening.]_

He sighed; it was always something, and it was usually something bad these days. _[I guess it _was_ too much to hope that it was only happening to me.]_

_[Don't go getting all noble on me, idiot,]_ Varis said; Blade hadn't honestly expected him to be so annoyed, but maybe he should have, considering all they had been through up till now.

_[I'm sorry,]_ he said, abashed. _[I didn't mean to make you worry.]_

_[Ugh, I feel dizzy,]_ Varis said, and Blade could feel his brother squeezing his hand more tightly. _[Do you have any ideas, brother?]_

_[We need to find a way to get this thing to let go; we need the room to maneuver, and I think...]_ he trailed off, twisting the blade of his lancer.

The spines, or legs or whatever they were, slackened and loosed their grip on them. And, since he'd managed to get his bearings, although just barely, he knew that the Radam's hideous construct wasn't all that far away. _[Shinya, charge up your Voltekka and fire it when I do. Whatever the Radam have heading for Earth, it's right in front of us.]_

_[All right,]_ Varis said, and out of the corner of his corner of his eye he could see his brother nodding.

Starting the charging process, and knowing that Varis would be doing the same, Blade felt the energy of his Voltekka peak. Willing his pauldrons to open, Blade fired at almost the same instant as Varis did. The pure, destructive energies of their respective Voltekkas ripped through the space in front of them, completely obliterating the Radam construct and its complement of flying beasts.

Blade was glad for it; he felt as if he was only staying awake through sheer willpower, he needed rest. He needed _food_, but rest had to come first. He was just about to collapse as it was.

_[Shinya?]_ he asked; there was only a small, weak moan over their link in response._ [Don't worry, brother; I'll get you back to the Blue Earth.]_

_[Thank you, Ta-kun,]_ Varis said, in what Blade thought was the mental equivalent of a whisper.

Wrapping his arms around his brother's waist, Blade fired his thrusters; tried to, anyway. He'd forgotten entirely about the venom still gumming them up. Normally, he would have tried to fire them in short bursts, relying on his own momentum and the lack of inertia in space to let him coast over to the Blue Earth, but he was evidently more wrung-out by that dual Voltekka he'd participated in; he barely felt capable of moving anymore.

And, to make matters worse, he could see the remaining Radam beasts beginning to gather around his and Varis immobile forms; like vultures around a corpse.

XIV

Sitting at her post in the navigator's chair, Aki watched in helpless horror as the insensate forms of the twins continued to drift in space. What made it even sadder was the fact that D-Boy's arms were wrapped around D-Two's waist; he was still trying to protect his brother, even though something had clearly happened to them both.

"Damn, I wonder if D-Two just died or something," Noal said, and she wondered how anyone could be so heartless. "Aki, we should head back to Earth as fast as we can."

"There's still-," she said, trying not to let what Noal had said get to her.

"Yeah; that flying nest where the Demons in the Stratosphere live," Noal said. "Why the hell isn't D-Boy fighting back? Does he think D-Two's going to do anything on his own?"

Radam's beasts were starting to gather closer around them, circling like some evil parody of carrion birds, and probably for the same reasons. She wasn't about to let the Radam get their hands on the twins; not when they'd obviously worked so hard to escape, and not when she had just started to get to know them.

"Aki, what are you doing?" Noal demanded; she ignored him, rising from her seat and heading for the secondary airlock.

"D-Boy, come back," she muttered to herself. "You've got to get D-Two somewhere safe." Entering the relevant commands, she looked over to watch the secondary airlock slide open. "You've got to."

D-Boy didn't say a word, but his exhausted, heavy breathing carried clearly over the ship-board comm. Worried, Aki bit her lower lip; she'd heard D-Two's breathing as well, so she knew he wasn't dead, but she still didn't know what she could _do_ for him.

"Noal! Make a hard turn!" she shouted over the comm. "Back to the base!"

"Hard turn at top speed! Roger!" Noal responded easily.

Breathing more easily, knowing that they would all be safe soon, Aki made her way to the aft section of the ship; both the main and secondary airlocks led there. And it was where the twins always went when they needed to transform. With the atmosphere restored, the doors hissed open without protest, and she stepped inside without another thought.

The twins were there, D-Boy's arms still wrapped around D-Two's waist, and Aki paused for a moment as she considered what she was going to do next. There was no way that she was going to be able to carry both of them for any length of time, but it was clear that the twins both needed urgent medical help. Taking a short breath to fortify herself, Aki walked into the airlock and crouched down beside the twins.

The fact that they were still clothed registered then, vaguely, but she was still grateful for it in a way. Gently unclasping D-Boy's hands, she unwrapped them from D-Two's waist; it wouldn't be good for D-Boy to have his circulation cut off, which was what was going to happen if she left D-Two where he was, so she carefully lifted D-Two up off of his brother's right arm. The least awkward position, at least relatively speaking, since she wasn't going to have an easy time carrying them in either case, was for her to sling one of the twins over her back, and then try to drag the other one.

Aki was fully aware that she was only going to be able to make it as far as the cockpit, but that was really the only place she needed to be. Noal was there, and as much as he clearly didn't like or trust the twins, she didn't think he would be heartless enough to ignore them when they were so clearly incapacitated. At least, not now that they were on-board, she reflected with a slight wince.

Grabbing D-Two's arms, Aki pulled him up onto her back and clasped his crossed wrists with her left hand. Still crouching, she paused a moment to regain her balance, then wrapped her right arm around D-Boy's waist, braced her feet against the deck, and forced herself back to her feet. Struggling out of the airlock under the combined weight of the twins, with D-Two's breath tickling the back of her neck with every step, she finally made it back into the cockpit after what felt like a short eternity.

"D-Boy, are you all right?" she called, her voice strained from what she had just done. "Your brother's safe now; he's here with us."

"Damn you!" Noal shouted. "How dare you come back after abandoning us like that!"

"There's no time for that!" she shouted as the Blue Earth pitched under the assault of what had to be another of Radam's beasts.

She felt herself and D-Two slammed into a wall, both D-Boy's body and D-Two's right hand breaking free from her grip on them. Aki could only be thankful that she hadn't landed on D-Two's legs, since she didn't think she could have done that without damaging them with the violence of the ship's pitching and rolling. The ship pitched again, worse this time, and Aki found herself slammed violently back into D-Two's chest, driving the breath out of him with a force that she hoped didn't end up breaking one of his ribs.

D-Boy's body was driven forward into her as the ship was slammed brutally into something she could only hope was the ground, and Aki found herself slamming back into D-Two again. She'd brought her arm forward to try to brace D-Boy against her body, so she didn't worry too much about breaking one of D-Two's ribs _that_ way, but she still had her back against his chest, so she couldn't relax entirely.

It may not have been as concentrated a blow, but blunt-force trauma could be all the more dangerous in the long run.

Once the ship had mercifully come to a stop, she pulled D-Two free from her back and began to check him for injuries. Pressing down lightly on his ribs yielded nothing like a break, which she was profoundly grateful for, but when she moved to examine the rest of him, she found a small cut on the back of his right hand. Probably when he had been tossed against the wall and she had lost her grip.

However, the worst of his injuries by far was the one she found on the back of his head. He was bleeding badly, though when she looked at his head, she found that the blood itself was hidden in his black hair.

"D-Two, please don't die," Aki said, caressing his cheek as she put D-Two's head in her lap and waited. She would have liked to have checked on D-Boy, but that wouldn't have been possible without disturbing D-Two. Noal came to check on her a few moments later.

"Aki!" he called. "I tried to bring the ship down as gently as I could, but- you're hurt!"

Aki looked down at her right hand, where Noal's gaze was fixed. It was the very same one that Aki had used to check D-Two's injury.

"Noal..." Aki muttered.

"Here, let me help," Noal said, not seeming to be listening to what Aki had been saying. Pulling her to her feet, Noal either didn't notice or didn't care when D-Two's unconscious and injured body slid back down onto the floor.

Aki was speechless for a moment, before she got over her shock. She had known on an intellectual level that Noal wasn't very fond of either D-Two or his brother, but she had thought that he would have at least given some thought to the fact that they were both lying unconscious on the floor. Grabbing the First Aid kit from the back of the Blue Earth's cockpit, Noal began to go through it.

"This might sting," Noal said, trying to prepare Aki for the mild discomfort he was sure was about to come.

"Noal-" Aki began.

"Hey, don't worry about it, I'm good at this," Noal grinned in a way that was probably intended to be reassuring, but only came off as annoying given the fact that Aki was trying to tell him something that he kept ignoring.

As Noal started to wipe away the blood on Aki's hand, Aki decided to let him. Noal would probably be more willing to listen to her once he found that Aki wasnt injured like he thought. Just then, Noal finished cleaning away the last of D-Two's blood, then he began to get out one of the bandages from the First Aid kit.

"Noal, you should check the wound before you bandage it," Aki suggested, hoping that Noal would get the message that she wasn't the one who needed help.

"Right," Noal nodded.

Noal looked over Aki's hand, searching for some kind of injury that would explain all the blood that had been there a few minutes ago. There was only clean, unbroken skin.

"What? I thought you had a cut on your hand," Noal said, gazing at Aki's hand with a look of eloquent confusion.

"I'm not the one who was injured."

"Well if you aren't, who is?"

"D-Two. I thought you might have noticed; he and D-Boy are both unconscious on the deck," there was no accusation in Aki's voice; she was trying to give Noal the benefit of the doubt.

"I guess I didn't notice that," Noal said.

"You didn't," Aki said neutrally. "Come on, let's go see what we can do to help him."

"All right, after you."

Once they were back behind the pilots chair that overlooked the cockpit, Aki hurried over to D-Two's side. He didn't look any better, but he didn't look any worse, either.

Aki quickly picked D-Two up, cradling him in her arms despite the fact that D-Two obviously weighed more than she did. Noal picked up D-Boy. Once they managed to get the boys out of the Blue Earth, there was still the matter of getting D-Two the medical attention he so obviously needed. Luckily for all of them, Milly and Levin were standing just off to the side of the Blue Earths exit ramp.

"What happened?" Levin demanded. "Did something happen to our Tekkamen?"

"D-Two was hurt, but I think D-Boy is still all right," Aki said, worried, as Noal brushed past her on his way to the infirmary. "I'm going to get him to the infirmary. You're welcome to come along, if you want."

"I will."

With that decided, Levin followed Aki as she sprinted to the OSDG infirmary. Once inside, all Aki had to do was call one of the doctors. Levin took care of that job, determinedly explaining the situation as he knew it to one of the more attentive of the medical staff. They soon took D-Two off of Aki's hands, and another of them even contacted Chief Freeman.

The Chief was a good man, and would want to know about the injuries that one of his crew had sustained. As the doctors swarmed around D-Two, checking him for other injuries and tending to his head wound, the Chief himself walked into the room.

"What just happened?"

Aki was again impressed by the way that the Chief could be so calm, even in this kind of near-crisis. That was part of what made him such a good person to work under, that and the way he cared so much about the people who did work under him.

"Sir," the doctor who had just finished wrapping D-Two's head in bandages saluted. "D-Two has sustained a minor fracture in the back of his skull, along with a superficial wound to the back of his right hand, and moderately bruised ribs. The fracture has been taken care of to the best of our abilities, but he will still need to have time to heal."

"How much time?" the Chief asked.

"Three, maybe four days. Five at the most."

The Chief nodded. "What about D-Boy? Did you have a chance to examine him?"

"Yes. All that was wrong with D-Boy was a severe case of exhaustion, along with minor scrapes and bruises. He'll be fine once he wakes up."

"Thank you. Keep me updated on D-Two's progress."

"Yes, sir."

With that, Chief Freeman walked out of the infirmary. Noal came in a little while after the Chief had left.

"How is he?" he asked, not sounding all that concerned.

"What do you care?" Aki snapped, finally getting angry at Noal for his callousness.

"I just want to know when he'll be back on his feet is all," Noal shrugged.

You're going to tell D-Boy about it? Aki said.

"Yes." Noal asked.

"D-Two was injured during the descent," Aki said. "His skull was cracked, and the doctors think he'll be out for at least three days."

"Thanks for telling me, Aki." Turning to look at D-Two even as Aki left, Noal saw that the Tekkaman was now hooked up to a respirator and a heart-rate monitor. "I guess even _you_ can't trust him. He really is a Dangerous Boy." Noal looked down at D-Two.

Turning away from D-Boy's brother, Noal went to look for one of the medical staff. Walking over to one of the doctors that was still in the room, Noal questioned her further about D-Two's condition. Once he had finished with that, Noal turned and left the room. It was time to find D-Boy.

XV

Takaya had just woken up, and he still felt weak and disoriented from the aftermath of the battle he had just taken part in. He was also nervous; something had seemed to be there, hidden at the back of his mind. It had to be the Radam, and for a moment Takaya wondered if Shinya had gone through the same thing during that battle. Then he decided to ask.

_[Shinya?]_ Takaya called, trying to be as unobtrusive as he could about using his telepathic power. _[Shinya, are you there?]_

_That's strange,_ Takaya thought to himself. He could sense his brother still inside OSDG Headquarters, but for some reason Shinya wouldn't answer his call. Even if Shinya had been asleep, the telepathic contact should have awakened him. Just as Takaya was about to try again, Noal walked into the room.

"Hello, D-Boy."

Noal had the look of someone who was delivering particularly bad news, and Takaya wondered for a moment what had happened. He shoved those thoughts aside quickly, though; Shinya was more important.

"What do you want?" Takaya asked.

Noal grabbed Takaya by his right wrist and hauled him out of the room. "I've got something to show you."

Takaya considered fighting, then decided to go along with whatever Noal wanted him to do. It would be just as easy to find out where Shinya was after Noal had finished showing him whatever the other Space Knight wanted him to see. As Takaya was pulled along behind Noal, he wondered just why they were heading toward the infirmary.

Takaya had come to know the way to the Space Knight infirmary a great deal better than he would have preferred. Shinya would probably say that that was because he, being an idiot, spent entirely too much time there; Takaya would probably have to agree with him. Once they were inside the observation room, Noal let him go.

Takaya took a moment to gather his wits.

"Noal," Takaya asked. "What the hell was that about?"

"There's someone in the treatment room," Noal said flatly. "Look."

Wanting to have this over with as quickly as possible, Takaya strode over to the large window that looked in on the treatment area. There was someone lying in the med-bed, clearly injured judging by the bandages that had been wrapped around their head. At the moment, though, Takaya was more concerned with finding his brother than trying to figure out who this new person was.

"I looked," Takaya said, turning away from the window with a decisive snap. "I'm going to find my brother now, Noal."

Noal frowned. "That _is_ your brother."

"_What_?" Takaya turned back to the observation window, _looking_ at the injured figure in the med-bed for the first time since he had been dragged into the room. _No. Please. Not my Shin-chan._

But it was. Lying there, fresh white bandages covering his long black hair, was the very person that Takaya had been about to start searching for.

"You said he was your younger brother," he said, looking at Takaya like he was some kind of vicious, evil _thing_. "What kind of older brother lets his younger brother get injured so easily?"

Takaya wasn't really hearing what Noal had to say; being more focused on his injured brother. _Oh god.__ Oh, Shinya. I didn't mean for this to happen; it should have been me in that bed. I'm supposed to protect you, little brother._ Takaya had pressed his hands up against the glass, and was now leaning his head against it.

"D-Boy." When Noal grabbed Takaya's left shoulder, Takaya pulled out of Noal's grasp and ran. Noal stumbled, falling to the floor and bruising his right wrist. Unfortunately, this was the same wrist that he wore the watch he had won from Honda on.


	5. Kill Me!

Takaya ran through the halls and corridors of OSDG Headquarters, not knowing just where he was trying to get to. The only thing he could see at the moment was the image of Shinya, lying helpless and injured in the medical center. _Father, wherever you are, please forgive me; I couldn't protect him. Shinya was injured because of me._ All these thoughts and more were running through Takaya's mind as he ran, and when he finally managed to make himself stop and look around, Takaya was only mildly surprised to find that he was standing just outside the gym.

Walking inside, Takaya found that he was the only one there at the moment. That suited him fine. Takaya strode over to one of the weight machines. Moving the selector pin to the highest possible weight setting, and then taking off his padded vest, Takaya sat down and began to methodically pump iron. He had soon gotten himself into a comfortable rhythm, and was even able to put the image of Shinya lying unconscious in the medical wing out of his mind.

Once Takaya had tired of working out on the weight machine, he went over to one of the punching bags and started beating on it. Takaya hadn't bothered to get a pair of gloves or even to wrap up his hands, so the rough material of the bag had soon taken most of the top layer of skin off of his knuckles. Takaya was too focused on the image burned into his brain; that of his brother lying unconscious in the med bay, to notice the splatters of his own blood that now decorated the punching bag.

Takaya's shoulders were soon heaving with exhaustion, but he forced himself to go on, working through a kata that he knew by heart. Running though all the martial arts katas that he could remember, Takaya tried again not to think about how badly he had failed. _Shinya, I'm so sorry; I couldn't protect you. I promised Father that I would, and I promised _you_, too. I'll do better next time, Shin-chan. I promise._

After a long time, even Takaya couldn't deny his failing body the rest it needed. Leaving the gym, Takaya made himself a promise to return early tomorrow. As he made his way back to his room, Takaya really _felt_ all the aches in his body for the first time since he had started working out. By the time he had gotten back to his quarters, Takaya was at last ready to collapse into bed and sleep for the rest of the night.

I

Takaya woke up earlier than he had planned, driven from sleep by another nightmare. Takaya had never asked Shinya if he ever had nights where he couldn't get to sleep; nights where his fears and uncertainties kept him awake into the small hours of the morning, or made him wake up earlier than he ever would have wanted to, because they simply weren't the type to talk about such things.

Takaya breathed deeply, steadying himself and reminding himself that it had only been a dream. Shinya was strong, a small wound like that wouldn't be enough to kill him. _Shinya, please don't die. Not you; not my Shin-chan._ Takaya got up to go take a shower, trying to keep from thinking about the things he couldn't help.

Once he was done, and dressed in a clean uniform, Takaya tried to decide whether he would prefer to go down to the cafeteria and have breakfast first, or just go back down to the gym and work out some more. A persistent growling in his stomach made the decision all the easier for him, so once he had gotten out of his room, Takaya made for the cafeteria.

As he walked, Takaya reminded himself not to think about the fact that he would have to eat alone today. Shinya would normally be there, just to keep his brother company. It made the days just a little less lonely somehow. Takaya, knowing that he would have to do without that comfort for today, made up his mind not to let anyone know just how much it affected him.

Takaya had learned a long time ago that there were very few people in the world that he could share his weaknesses and insecurities with. With Shinya gone, at least temporarily, that number had gotten even smaller. Walking out of his room, Takaya put on his usual mask of stoic indifference. Walking down the halls without his brother by his side was an experience Takaya wasn't at all eager to repeat.

II

In the cafeteria Takaya sat as his usual place, at his usual table, and tried to make himself forget that Shinya wasn't just up getting some food for himself. It was better if he didn't think about things like that, Takaya had learned. Shinya was really the stronger one when it came to dealing with messy things like emotions, or maybe it was just that his brother wasn't one to let his emotions control him.

Either way, it didn't change the fact that Takaya needed his brother to lean on, even if he wasn't going to admit it out loud. Once he was almost finished with his breakfast, Takaya heard the familiar sound of the alert. He had long since learned how to distinguish between the so-called 'general-alert' and the 'emergency-alert'. This was the former, which meant that Takaya was due in the briefing room.

Since he had already had enough time to finish his breakfast, Takaya made his way down to the briefing room. All of the other Space Knights were sitting at the table, apparently having waited till Takaya joined them to start the meeting. There was a discussion of the battle that had happened the previous day, one that Takaya wasn't at all interested in joining.

Going through that battle once had been more than enough for him, and to make it all worse, he was still dealing with the aftermath of that battle. Chief Freeman was the first to notice Takaya's silence, or at least he was the first to comment on it.

"D-Boy, we're not blaming you," Freeman said, obviously taking in Takaya's slumped posture, hopeless expression, and general air of dejectedness. "We would just like to understand why you abandoned the battle; I know that you had to protect your brother, but you acted even before D-Two had been incapacitated." Freeman paused for a moment, and Takaya could feel the man's gaze boring into him. "This is just speculation on my part, but did it have anything to do with the performance of the Tek-System itself?"

Noal, who had been sitting quietly after having given his report, looked over at Takaya. His expression was unreadable for the most part, and Takaya didn't have the time to decipher it. He was probably angry like the rest of them, anyway.

Just then, the main screen activated.

"Good afternoon, everyone," General Colbert said in his usual solicitous tone, and with his usual arrogant smile.

"Uh-oh, it's that bald geezer," Levin said.

"Keep your voice down," Honda said urgently, covering the other man's mouth with both hands.

"I observed your Tekkamen in battle the last time they were sent out," Colbert said, his flat expression becoming an amused, condescending smirk as he spoke. "It seems even with _two_ of them, your Space Knights weren't able to secure a victory over the flying Radam monsters."

"Perhaps you should come to the point, sir," Freeman said.

"It's nothing particularly urgent, but there is some information that I'd like to pass onto you and your people," Colbert said, a small smirk still in place.

"Specifically?" Freeman asked calmly.

"You're likely to find this out officially from the Outer Space Development Organization later, but the Space Knights' next mission has already been decided upon," he smiled in that arrogant way of his. "Your goal will be the complete destruction of the flying Radam monsters' nest: the Radam balloon," he leaned forward, setting his chin on his folded hands, his smile seeming all the wider for his more casual posture.

"Radam Balloon," Takaya muttered, too low for anyone but Shinya to have heard or taken notice of; if his brother had been there with him, if _he_ hadn't failed so badly.

"So long as these flying Radam monsters exist, we won't be able to deal with the Radam monsters falling from the Orbital Ring," Colbert said, his demeanor becoming more serious. "I fully expect you Space Knights to annihilate the Radam balloon, the nest for the flying Radam monsters," he grinned down at them, his demeanor jovial again. "And, one more thing: should you fail this mission, it's been decided that your Tekkamen; no, rather the entire Space Knights Unit, will be transferred and henceforth operate under the supervision of the Allied Defense Force."

"No way!" he heard Milly shout.

"So, if this mission fails, Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Varis will be confiscated by the Allied Defense Force," Honda said derisively.

"But that's so underhanded!" Levin exclaimed.

The meeting broke up not soon after that, and Takaya left quickly; he wasn't really in the mood to deal with people more than he had to today, and he knew that Chief Freeman would call him when it was time for him to hear about the specifics of whatever operation they were going to launch to deal with those tekkapods the Radam had been sending down. He just wanted to go back to his room, just to lay in his bed and try not to think of anything. Not sleep; too many nightmares awaited him there.

Hearing someone fall into step beside him, Takaya made a concerted effort to ignore them. It was either Aki or Noal, and he didn't want to deal with them, for one reason or another; Noal would be taunting him, and he wasn't in the mood to deal with Aki's mothering at the moment.

"D-Boy?"

It _was_ Aki after all. He moved faster, not wanting to look like he was running away, but also wanting to get away from her if he possibly could.

"Wait, D-Boy," she said, catching hold of his arm as he was just about to turn a corner. "Why don't we go see your brother?"

"Why?" he demanded, pulling away; he didn't want to spend the time staring his failure in the face, despite the fact that he knew that he would be doing so sometime later.

And probably not so much later, either.

"It'll be good for you," she said, reaching out for him again; this time he let her, since it was obvious that she would keep trying until she got ahold of him. "To see that things aren't as bad as you think."

"Fine." Shinya would have sighed under the same circumstances, trying to throw her off with humor and exaggeration.

She smiled, and he let her lead him back through the halls toward the infirmary. The door slid open in front of them, the same way that every door in OSDG Headquarters did, but what was behind them was something that he hadn't honestly wanted to see for at least a few more hours. Shinya lay there, a breathing-mask fixed over his face, and the not-entirely-reassuring beep of the heart-rate monitors loud in the silence. Everything else was the same as he had seen while he was with Noal: the white bandages that contrasted so sharply with Shinya's black hair, the slow, even breathing through the tube that provided his brother with oxygen. Everything was just like last time; nothing had changed.

He didn't want to see this; it was _his_ failure that had caused Shinya to end up like this, and he had wanted to at least avoid confronting this for the morning, to at least have time to wake up properly before he saw this.

"See?" Aki said, turning to smile at him. "D-Two is going to be fine. He'll be up before you know it."

Sticking his hands in his pockets, not wanting to make this situation anymore _real_ than it already was, Takaya just stared down at Shinya. He knew that his brother was beyond him; out of the reach of even their telepathy, and he would have given anything to make that not be true. He just wanted to have it be yesterday; to have the last of his brothers back by his side.

Hearing the general-alert was almost a relief; knowing that he wouldn't have to _think_ so much anymore, that he could just _do_ things. Knowing that there would finally be something to take his mind off just how badly he had failed. Even facing Noal wouldn't be so bad, with the promise of something to take his mind off Shinya.

When they both arrived back in the Space Knights' comm. room, Chief Freeman nodded to them. He seemed to be waiting on someone else, though. When Noal brushed past them, with a smile for Aki that turned into a leer when he passed by into Takaya's line of sight, the Chief nodded and went to the computers.

He'd obviously activated some sort of battle-sim, since the next thing Takaya saw on the holo-screen was a figure that he took to be himself, and a ship that seemed to be the Blue Earth, orbiting one of the Radam Balloons while shooting at it. The simulated Radam Balloon was soon reduced to nothingness; his role seemed obvious enough that Takaya didn't feel the need to ask about it.

"That concludes our mission-briefing for Operation Radam Balloon Attack," the Chief said. "We'll begin the operation at 1200 tomorrow."

"D-Boy, hang in there, okay?" Levin asked, drawing Takaya's attention with a hand on his left shoulder, and then clasping his own hands under his chin. "If the mission fails tomorrow and I have to be separated from you and D-Two, I'll just die of sorrow!"

"Confiscating those Tekkamen might not be such a bad idea; I'm sure the Allied Defense Force would at least manage to keep D-_Two_ out of danger. Especially since he can't rely on his older brother."

"Noal!" Aki snapped, an obvious warning in her voice.

"What? It's only the truth." Takaya tried not to let Noal's words get to him; he was an idiot, and a jackass, and he didn't know what the hell he was talking about. Shinya would have said just as much, if he'd been here to hear any of this. "_D-Boy_ was the one who left his younger brother to get his skull split open like that, not me. Ow!"

"Shut _up_, Noal," Aki hissed, her fist still slightly raised from hitting Noal's hard head with it. "You don't have any right to say things like that!"

"That's a good swing you have there, Aki," Noal said, still rubbing his head; he knew when someone was playing dumb, and Noal was obviously determined to do so.

Best to ignore him, then; nothing would be resolved if he let himself get dragged into a fight, despite the fact that Noal was so obviously trying to provoke one.

"D-Two has not regained consciousness yet. The medical staff is treating him to the best of their ability. However, they are still uncertain as to just when he will finally wake up." Chief Freeman's voice was calm as ever, yet it had the undertones of a harsh reprimand; almost reminiscent of... someone else. "So, that means that you will be on your own during the operation tomorrow, D-Boy."

"Yeah," he said, looking again at the gap where Shinya was supposed to be standing.

"Good," Chief Freeman said, with a nod to him. "One other thing: Honda, in addition to repairing the Blue Earth, I'd like you to equip her with weapons."

"Sure thing!" Honda said, sounding pleased. "I can take care of something like that in three seconds!"

"Yeah, that would be perfect," Noal interjected, obviously pleased himself. "Once the Blue Earth has weapons, we won't need that useless Tekkaman Blade anymore. I'm sure D-Two will be happy to hear that, if he wakes up."

He just knew that Noal was leering at him, or else he had that sickening grin on his face; Takaya _wasn't_ going to let himself be dragged into a fight. Not here, and not with people who'd taken him and his brother in when they didn't even have to. He _wasn't_.

"Don't say things like that!" Levin snapped.

"Noal, shut up," Aki said, clearly at the end of her tolerance for Noal's antics; she wasn't the only one. "That isn't the kind of thing you should be saying to a comrade."

"Hey, D-Boy," Noal said, his voice quivering with barely suppressed mirth. "If your brother dies in the infirmary, maybe you should kill yourself, too."

Shinya would have kicked him, or stomped on his toes in passing; Takaya just turned and left.

III

Watching as D-Boy walked away, his shoulders hunched, and tense as any number of whipcords, Noal had about a second to feel the change in the air before Aki belted him right across the cheek.

"Oww," he said, reaching up to touch his stinging cheek. "Aki-"

"Noal, you idiot!" she all but snarled; he might have gone a bit too far with that last dig. "How could you say such a horrible thing?"

"You should go apologize," Levin added; okay, he'd _definitely_ gone a bit overboard if _Levin _was looking at him like that. "Well, get going!" he snapped, when Noal started to open his own mouth to apologize.

"_We're_ not the ones you should be apologizing to, Noal," Aki informed him flatly.

No one would speak to him after that; heck, even the _Chief_ was giving him the gimlet eye, so he turned and left. He knew where D-Boy was bound to be headed, and as much as he didn't actually _want_ to do it, he knew that no one would be particularly happy with him until he'd made up with D-Boy. Still, thinking back on the expression he'd seen on D-Boy's face, just before the kid had turned to leave, he started to feel like a bit of a heel.

D-Boy and his brother _had_ protected them from some pretty horrible things; the Radam and those weird Tekkamen of theirs being foremost among them, and he'd gone and mocked the kid after his twin brother – someone who was closer to him than anyone else – had been injured. It hadn't even been the kid's fault; he'd been conked out just like his brother, dead weight in the back of the Blue Earth's cockpit.

He hated to say it, but he just might have been a bit too hard on D-Boy.

When he reached the infirmary, he went to the observation area outside D-Two's room. He didn't want to crowd the kid, but he also wanted to see just what D-Boy was doing. He _might _have misjudged the kid, but then again he might not have; he wanted to take the measure of the kid before he said anything, and the best way to do that was to just let him be himself when he thought he was alone.

Switching on the audio-receiver, he waited to hear what D-Boy would say to his brother. He didn't have to wait that long: "I'm so sorry," he heard, followed by a quiet sigh. "It's all my fault. Please, forgive me."

Noal nearly laughed; it looked like he'd been _way_ off base, this time. D-Boy was one of _those_ types; the ones who wanted to take the world on their own shoulders, no matter if it broke them in the end.

The sad monologue continued: "I'll fight, for the both of us, but please; you have to survive, too. Don't die before I do, brother."

He saw D-Boy tuck his brother's right hand back under the covers, and sighed as the kid left. _And I usually consider myself such a good judge of character,_ he thought, with a subdued chuckle. Nothing for it now, though; he'd have to make some form of amends, or else he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

Sighing again, he walked into the treatment room where D-Two was convalescing.

"Sorry, kid," he said, wanting to get the easy part over with first. "I guess I might have misjudged your brother," he sighed again, listening to the deep, rhythmic breathing of someone who might as well have been a coma patient. "I admit it; I was kind of bull-headed about... well, pretty much everything where you boys were concerned. I'll make it up to you, though: I won't let your brother die out there, no matter how much that idiot might think he has to."

His piece said, Noal turned and left the infirmary in search of D-Boy. It was time to flagellate himself in service to the greater good...

IV

When he'd found himself wandering the halls of OSDG Headquarters, trying to avoid anyone and everyone – especially Noal, who'd seemed to be following him for some reason – Takaya had decided to stay in Shinya's room for awhile. It wouldn't have done him any good to shut himself up in his own room, since anyone who was looking for him would check there first.

Besides, he needed this; needed to be surrounded by the reminders of his brother, what few there were in this room, so that he didn't forget just what he had done. Or who he was really fighting for.

When he started to feel trapped in that room, too, Takaya decided that the best thing for him would be to go outside. The fresh, brisk desert air might do him some good, or at least take his mind off of his problems for awhile.

Levering himself up and out of Shinya's bed, Takaya opened the door and checked the hall on both sides. He didn't want to deal with people, Noal in particular, and the best way to not have to deal with people was to not encounter them in the first place. He knew that better than most, having encountered his fair share of people who he would have just as soon avoided.

It was always better to be out of sight when you wanted to stay out of mind.

Making his way out of his brother's room, Takaya quickly and quietly made his way through the corridors of the OSDG Headquarters. He didn't have any particular destination in mind; he just wanted to be out in the open air, to try to clear his head before the battle tomorrow. Finally making it out of the now-stifling air of OSDG Headquarters, he found that true night had just started to fall.

The moon was just starting to rise to its apex in the sky, and Takaya found himself looking up at it, and trying not to think. It was almost like being back home; though their house was far enough away from the lights of the city that you could have seen about a million stars in the sky while the moon was out. That wasn't the case here, though, but he could still pretend…

He could pretend that, if he turned to look back over his shoulder, he would see their old, comfortable two-story house; that if he scuffed his feet against the ground, he would hear the soft rustling of the grass; that if he just waited long enough, one of his siblings would come out to tease him about his mind constantly wandering and then tell him he was late for dinner... he could pretend all of that, but none of it would be true. So, all he did was to continue to stare up at the moon. There was something about the moonlight; something that soothed and unsettled, something that simultaneously drew and repulsed, him at the same time.

It was almost like there was something he should know, but didn't; he was probably over-thinking things again, though.

"D-Boy?"

Turning to look behind himself at last, and breaking the illusion that he was anywhere familiar, Takaya faced Aki.

"Aki, why are you here?" he asked, not sure if he was grateful for the interruption or not.

"I just thought you could use the company," she said, as she walked up to stand beside him. "It's a beautiful night; I wouldn't want to spend it alone. Are you still thinking about what Noal said, though?" she asked, and he turned to look at her as she put a hand on his left shoulder. "Don't; he shouldn't have said any of those horrible things to you. I'm sure your brother's going to be just fine, just give him some time to heal."

He sighed, staring up at the full moon for a few, long moments. "Brother's strong; he won't die so easily," he said, not looking away from the satellite, large and full in the sky above him. "But, this might be the last time that I have a chance to see the sky at night."

"What?"

"Aki, if something goes wrong tomorrow, I want you to kill me," he said, continuing to stare at the moon; there was something about it that continued to draw him in.

He could also feel her fingers digging into his shoulder as she gripped it harder, and he turned to look at her. "What? What are you talking about, D-Boy?"

He sighed, looking back up at the moon; he shouldn't really have expected her to understand. Not that, anyway. "I can only function as a Tekkaman with a human heart for thirty minutes." He turned to look her in the eyes again, wanting to convey the full seriousness of the situation. "If I exceed that, even for a single second, my Tek-System will go out of control, and my mind will be possessed." He could remember the feeling more clearly now, now that he wasn't the only thing standing between the last of his brothers and a cold, lonely death at the metaphorical hands of Radam's monsters. "Then, I'll become a demon who will bring destruction to the Earth, and I'll never be able to return to my human self."

Glaring down at the inoffensive steel-plating of OSDG Headquarters' floor, he breathed deeply. Not so much from all the talking that he'd just done, but to avoid the gaze of the one Space Knight who had seemed to actually _accept_ his presence, and that of his brother. What must she think of him now? He'd just revealed that Noal had been perfectly right to mistrust the two of them when they had first appeared: they were just as dangerous as any of the Radam, when you got right down to it; maybe even moreso, since they could convince people by their actions that they were all on the same side, and then they could turn on them with almost no warning.

It would have almost been better if they'd just been the enemy, with no pretense of being on the same side in the first place. _No_; they should have just left when they first had the chance, and dealt with the consequences on their own. That way, there would have been no one else to suffer the consequences of their own actions.

No one else to be hurt if they failed.

"What? That can't be true. I can't believe that you'd ever become an evil Tekkaman. You're one of our comrades, D-Boy," Aki sounded worried; he looked back at her, and saw that it wasn't fear _of_ him, the way he'd honestly been expecting, but fear _for_ him.

"Aki, it's true," he said, closing his eyes; this had to be said, he had to say it. "It won't only affect me, though," he looked her dead in the eyes; she had to know how important this was, she had to _understand_; much as he didn't want to say it. "Brother will-" A second of hesitation, before he forced himself to go on. "Brother will be affected by this, too." He breathed deeply, feeling for a moment like he had just swallowed broken glass; he and Shinya had sworn to protect each other, but some things had to be said. "The moment our minds are afflicted, we'll lose our ability to fight. We'll be vulnerable for that time. And if- if any of our battles go on longer than thirty minutes, you have to tell Noal."

"Tell Noal?" she looked stricken, and for a moment he almost stopped; but this had to be finished.

"Tell him to kill us!" he locked gazes; eye to eye, willing her to understand at last.

She took a breath, looking down for a moment, before clenching her fists and planting her feet. "I will," she said, her voice holding a small quaver, but the gaze she locked on him was nearly as firm as his own.

"Thank you," he said.

Touching her right shoulder in passing, he turned and made his way back into the OSDG Headquarters. He didn't want to stare up at the moon anymore; Aki was right, he was going to need all the sleep he could get. Especially since he was going to be alone out there this time.

V

It felt like someone had pulled the world right out from under her; knowing that D-Boy had just asked her to _kill_ him; even if Noal would be the one to pull the trigger in that situation, she was going to be the one to give the order. That made it just as much her responsibility. Looking up at the moon for a few moments, she wondered briefly what D-Boy had found so enthralling about it. It was almost like he'd _needed_ to see it for some reason; that didn't quite make sense, but then again, not much about the situation did.

_She_ certainly hadn't seen any evidence that D-Boy was... losing himself to his powers. He'd just seemed to be exhausted, and later dispirited by the loss of his brother's constant presence. Still, it wasn't as if she could conclusively say what D-Boy was overreacting; he knew much more about his and D-Two's powers than any of them, and as much as she might dislike the conclusions she had to draw from that, it didn't make them any less likely to be true.

With a last look up at the full moon, Aki turned and made for the comfort of her own room. She needed sleep, and then she needed to think. Neither of which would happen if she just stood out here under the moon.

VI

The night passed with varying degrees of ease; Takaya, as he settled into his bed, was troubled by visions of what might happen to his brother; Aki and Noal slept comparatively well. Though Noal moreso than Aki, since he didn't know what she knew. Eventually, however, all of the Space Knights found their way to a restful sleep.

VII

Once he had regained enough awareness to recognize his surroundings, which didn't happen until he had thrashed himself out of bed, Takaya stared at the wall for a few moments, before pushing himself up off the floor. He'd called out for Shinya in his sleep, or at least he remembered doing it. Maybe he'd just been dreaming _that_, too; there was no real way for him to know, since he was cut off entirely from his brother.

About the only thing that he had completely accepted as a benefit of working with the Space Knights was the fact that his quarters had their own bathroom. That meant that he could easily get in a shower before he went out to have breakfast. Or, sometimes just when he needed to relieve some stress.

Once he'd finished with his shower, and toweled himself dry, he threw his old clothes in the hamper on the wall by the door, and left his bathroom to get himself a new uniform. Dressing quickly, not in the mood to linger over things, and having no one else to talk to during his morning routine in any case. Sooner than usual, or else all too soon, Takaya was ready to leave his room in search of breakfast.

Doing so without a look back, Takaya made a decision: he would go and see Shinya afterward. This might end up being the last day that he was alive to see his brother, and he didn't want to have any regrets. Noal would know about his problem soon enough, and he would probably be more than willing to pull the trigger at the slightest hint of trouble.

Takaya wasn't quite sure how he felt about that; he wouldn't want to end up killing any of the Space Knights if something happened to him, but no one in their right mind would relish the thought of dying.

He was no different. Leaving those morbid thoughts behind him as he settled down at an empty table at the far end of the cafeteria, Takaya began to eat methodically. He didn't hurry, since that would have caused more problems than just a bit of unease on his part about the delay. So he ate at a normal pace, steadily working through the large meal he had in front of him.

He was going to need all the calories he could get, if he was going to be any good to the Space Knights on this mission; especially since he was going to be fighting alone this time.

When he started to hear footsteps, Takaya dismissed them initially. He'd been hearing footsteps ever since he'd sat down; just the normal comings-and-goings of the people eating here. When the footfalls drew closer to him, he just figured that they were heading for one of the few tables nearby. There hadn't been any real way to completely avoid the people in this room, but he'd separated himself from them as much as he could.

He didn't particularly feel like dealing with anyone at the moment.

"D-Boy?" Looking up from his meal, he saw Aki just settling down into a chair opposite him.

Shinya would have sarcastically offered her a seat at the table, or else just given her an annoyed look as she settled herself down; all he did was to watch, and then turn his attention back to the little food that still remained on his plate. Once he was finished, he could leave; he could go say what might be his last goodbye to his twin brother.

"I wanted to talk to you about what you said last night," she said.

He could have ignored her, and just left, but she had pushed over a bowl of food just before she had finished speaking; the smell of it was making his mouth water. He hadn't even known that dango was an _option_ here, much less that they could be served for breakfast. In a way, he almost felt nostalgic, before he ruthlessly quashed the feeling; now wasn't the time to think of home, and it probably never would be again.

Relaxing his legs, having tucked them up under his body in preparation for getting out of the chair he was sitting on, he stretched back out.

"What did you want to say to me?" he asked.

"I just wanted to let you know, no matter what happens out there, I'm going to do my best to ensure that all of us make it back home safely."

He sighed. "You _know_ how dangerous I am, Aki," he said firmly. "Don't try to pretend everything's still the same."

VIII

D-Boy was looking at her with that intense expression of his; he was clearly still troubled by their discussion last night, and just as clearly, he wasn't going to talk about it. He'd finished eating by now; he'd seemed to have enjoyed that dango, so that was something to remember in the future.

"Where are you going now, D-Boy?" she asked, though she thought she could guess.

He paused for a moment, as if he was going to say something, but then he continued walking without another word.

Gathering her own tray and dishes, Aki left the cafeteria. D-Boy would prepare himself for the coming battle in his own way, and so would she. It was the only thing they really _could_ do.

IX

Standing in the treatment room, listening to the soft sound of his brother's breathing, Takaya squeezed Shinya's hand. He wanted his brother to know that he was still all right. Since he knew that his brother was beyond the reach of their telepathy, he didn't waste his time calling out to him that way. He was already facing his failure, he didn't need any more reminders of it.

"Shin-chan," he squeezed tighter, briefly. "Please, forgive me, Shin-chan."

The door hissed softly open; he thought it was one of the doctors, right up until the new person spoke: "I was wondering when I would finally manage to pin you down, D-Boy," Noal said, with a soft chuckle. "I'd swear you can almost walk through walls when you want to."

Shinya would have said something, probably something sarcastic, to get Noal out of the room; more than that, his brother probably would _know_ just what to say to get Noal to leave. Shinya was good at reading people like that. He just stayed silent, hoping Noal would leave him alone.

"I want you to know that I'm sorry about what I said yesterday," he sighed. "I was out of line. I admit it, and I apologize. If it means anything to you, I'm going to do my best to make it up to you. I just wanted you to know that, D-Boy."

That... really hadn't been what he had expected at all, and as he turned to watch Noal's departing form vanish behind the sliding door, he sighed. Once Aki told him the truth, things were likely to go back to the way they had been when he, Shinya, and Noal had met for the first time. Only now, he would have a reason for mistrusting them, rather than doing it out of spite the way he had seemed to be before.

X

Seeing D-Boy so depressed, where it would have given him a certain degree of satisfaction, only made him realize just how important the kid's brother was in his life. Those two must have gone through one hell of an experience to have bonded so closely; probably not a pleasant one, either, with the Radam's invasion and their constant rain of mutant space monsters.

Checking his watch, he figured that now was as good a time as any to start heading for the Blue Earth's hangar. He still had about eight minutes or so, but there wasn't really anything he could _do_ in eight minutes. At least, nothing that wouldn't also run the risk – however small – of absorbing his attention and making him miss his launch deadline. He didn't intend to miss this or any chance to inflict pain and devastation on the aliens invading his home.

On his way to the hangar, he met up with Aki, and the two of them walked side-by-side for awhile. She seemed preoccupied with something, so he didn't disturb her. When D-Boy joined up with them, there was a look of resigned sorrow on his face; his twin brother was still flat on his back in the infirmary, though, so Noal didn't look to closely at him.

He probably still wanted to be alone.

When they finally made it inside the Blue Earth, with nothing but the sounds of their own footfalls accompanying them on their way through the corridors, Noal settled gratefully down into the pilot's seat. Now wasn't the time for distractions; now it was time to go hunt down whatever it was that those stupid aliens were trying to drop on them, so Tekkaman Blade could fry it and the three of them could head back to OSDG Headquarters.

And so D-Boy could go back to watching over his brother.

The last wisps of atmosphere vanished from the cockpit windows, he let out the deep breath he'd drawn. The launch itself was always exhilarating, especially in the Blue Earth, and he relished it. Not for long though; Aki's next words reminded him that they weren't here to sightsee:

"Confirming target," she said. "It'll be coming into view soon."

There was a definite feeling of apprehension as the large, lumpy purple shape became visible outside of the left-side window. He knew full well what those mutant space monsters were waiting _for_; and so did D-Boy, since the kid was out of his seat like a shot and heading for the aft section and their main air lock.

"D-Boy, if the battle seems like it's going to drag on, do whatever you have to to end it quickly," Aki said, pinning him with a look, even as he stopped to look back.

"Yeah."

"Make sure you come back to us," he said, winking. "You've got someone waiting for you back there, you know?"

D-Boy gave him an inscrutable look for that; it was gone too quickly for him to make heads-or-tails of it, but given the way he'd treated the kid and his brother while they were trying to settle into their new roles, he guessed that he shouldn't really be expecting anything else.

XI

Standing in the air lock, alone with the sound of his own breathing, Takaya made a concerted effort to ignore the pangs in his heart. He was going to have to focus on what was happening in front of him, not back on what he was wishing hadn't. It was the only way that he was going to be able to do anyone any good.

Especially now, when he was going to have to fight alone.

"Teksetta!" he shouted, all the louder, to distract himself from the sound of his own voice; and the lack of Shinya's.

Flying free into the void of space as he transformed, Blade took a deep – though admittedly unneeded – breath to steady himself. He knew what he was facing now, he _knew_ the dangers, but he also knew that if it came down to the worse case scenario he would be able to count on Noal to do what was necessary. Somehow, though, that thought didn't comfort him as much as he had been expecting it to.

"Tekkaman Blade!" he exclaimed.

The Radam monsters were on him before he had finished speaking, and he drew one of the halves of his tekkalance and started slashing. Normally, he would have had at least _someone_ to speak to while he slaughtered his way through Omega's legions; but now he was fighting alone, and he didn't feel anything like his normal self. The Radam monsters came at him in silence, and they died in silence.

It didn't feel quite right, but then nothing about this situation really was; things hadn't been _right_ for too long, and there was no reason to believe that they ever would be again.

When the Radam monsters started to spit streams of sticky venom at him, Blade gritted his teeth and hissed in fury. This was the same thing that had caused him so much trouble before, and had nearly ended up getting him and Shinya killed. It might _still_ end up getting him killed, if he got caught by them and ended up being forced past his time-limit.

Dodging and weaving through the swarming mass of Radam monsters, he growled deeply in his throat as one of them managed to latch onto him. Drawing the other half of his tekkalance, he jammed it into the thing's head deeply enough to kill it, then joined the two halves together and slashed another one in half before it could make another aggressive move. Pausing for a moment to collect himself, he flew back into the fray with renewed purpose.

This wasn't going to end until he ended it; and he had to do it _quickly_, for everyone's sake.

Slashing, hacking, and thrusting with his tekkalance, Blade abruptly decided to take more drastic measures. There were too many for him to deal with using conventional methods, at least with any degree of confidence that he would have time to do so. So, it was time for more unconventional methods.

"Crash Intrude!"

His armor folded down, rearranging itself into what felt like a much sleeker, more dynamic shape, and he felt energy almost literally exploding out of him. Slamming his way through the onrushing ranks of Radam monsters, he felt a dull sort of satisfaction as they exploded or were burned out of existence in his wake. But, when he turned around to deal with the tekkapod, he found himself facing rank upon rank of fresh ones.

Cursing under an unnecessary breath, he raised his lance. He didn't have the energy left for another Crash Intrude. And this time, he was on his own.

XII

Watching D-Boy as he fought the advancing swarms of flying Radam monsters, swarms that never seemed to end, Aki knew that she would have to do something. He'd been out there for twenty minutes; understandable considering what he was facing, but if he stayed out there too long... She didn't like to consider the possibilities, but D-Boy had certainly sounded sincere when he was speaking to her.

At the very least, _he_ had believed what he was saying to her.

"Noal, we've got to back up Tekkaman Blade," she said, turning to look back at the man who D-Boy had chosen to trust to kill him when... _if_ the time ever came. "He's completely outnumbered."

"I don't like it, Aki, but I don't think even _both_ of Blue Earth's laser cannons will put even a dent in _that_ swarm" Noal said, sounding like he was trying to be reasonable; heck of a time for him to start.

She was just about to say something, maybe bring up a few of his more hair-brained stunts back in the day, when the Blue Earth was rocked by a sudden, harsh impact. The face of a flying Radam monster, looming outside the forward windows, gave her no possible doubt about what had hit them.

"Noal, it isn't as simple as you think," she said tersely; then, as electricity crackled over the panels in front of her, she screamed.

"Damn you, you're not dealing with the same Blue Earth as before," Noal said roughly, and she heard the hums and beeps of the targeting-computer locking on. "Take that!"

She could see the lasers as they were fired, burning through the intervening space and driving off the Radam monsters that had attacked them.

"We did it!" he said, with a relief in his voice that she couldn't feel a bit of.

"Noal, please," she said; she'd been hoping that this situation wouldn't come up, that she wouldn't have to tell Noal what might happen, and to have him worry the way she herself was doing. "We have to help Tekkaman Blade. He's nearly our of time!"

"What? Nearly out of time? What is that supposed to mean?" he looked just about as confused as she had felt, last night while D-Boy was telling her nearly the same thing.

"D-Boy said so last night," she said, taking a deep breath and trying to steady herself; it didn't work very well, but then this wasn't really a normal situation. "He has a time limit; he can fight only for thirty minutes. He said… he said that he would rather be killed by one of his comrades than join the Radam."

"Comrades?" he asked, clearly startled by D-Boy's sentiment.

"If the battle keeps going on like this, D-Boy is going to become an evil Tekkaman," she trailed off, unable to continue for a moment, but then she forced herself onward. "He'll end up attacking us, even though he won't want to."

The only upside that she could see to D-Two's not being there at the moment, was that she didn't _have_ to tell Noal about what might happen to him. She wasn't entirely sure how he would react. Especially with D-Two helpless in the infirmary the way he was now.

"Damn him! What time did Tekkaman Blade mobilize?"

"1230 hours, almost exactly," she said quickly.

"Only three minutes, then," Noal said, after quickly checking his watch. "Aki, you'd better hold on tight!"

XIII

He was starting to sympathize with Shinya now, now that he was starting to become weak and dizzy. When he felt something slam into the back of his neck, he only realized that it was their venom from the way it wrapped around his neck. That wasn't all of it, though, since the next part of his body to be coated with venom was his left arm, and then his stomach and his left and right legs.

He tried to slice through it with his tekkalance, but all that accomplished was to give the Radam monsters a chance to snare his _right_ arm with their venom. Screaming curses that went unheard in the airless void, Blade began to feel the now-familiar, hated disorientation that meant that he was nearly at his absolute limit. Trying to brute-force his way out of their trap with his thrusters didn't seem to be working, so when the Blue Earth's new laser cannons sheared through a good deal of the strands holding him in place, he was both pleased and relieved.

Cutting through the remainder, he jetted away; kicking his legs over his head in a backwards flip, he landed atop the Blue Earth and gratefully let it carry him closer to the tekkapod.

"I owe you one, Noal," he said, tapping the Blue Earth's radio through some means he wasn't in any mood to look too closely at.

"Yeah," he heard the man respond. "Let's go, Tekkaman Blade."

Raising his tekkalance, he bisected a pair of Radam monsters that had tried to approach the ship; it was possible that they'd been so concerned with his welfare that they'd forgotten the reason they'd come out here in the first place, he didn't really believe it but it was possible.

"What _are_ those things?" he heard Aki gasp over the radio.

"So, the Radam Balloon was the enemy's colony?" he heard Noal demand of no one.

He flew off the Blue Earth and began charging up his Voltekka. "Thank you, Noal, Aki," he said so that only he could hear. "Voltekka!"

With the energies roiling inside him, he fired the Voltekka he'd been holding back and watched with grim satisfaction as the tekkapod burned. The last of his energy spent, he lay still while he tried to summon the reserve energy to move. He could hear Aki calling for him, and she sounded worried enough that he wanted to answer. He _wanted_ to, but his body just didn't seem to want to respond.

He needed a bit more time to recover, that was clear.

When the Blue Earth fired on _him_, though, he managed to tap a heretofore-unknown reserve of energy to get himself out of the range of those laser cannons. Making for the Blue Earth's air lock, Blade pushed his failing energy-reserves for all the power they could give him. Landing in the main air lock, his energy all but gone, he let his transformation fade and forced himself to stay on his feet. He still had a bone to pick with Noal.

He panted, standing at the threshold of the cockpit. He had to be quick; he was starting to feel faint. "Damnit, I can't stand people who aren't punctual," he fell to his knees.

Slumping to the floor as his consciousness deserted him, Takaya thought he heard Aki calling for him.

XIV

With D-Boy conked out in the back of the cockpit, and Aki fussing over him the way she tended to, Noal knew it was up to him to get them all safely back to OSDG Headquarters. He was a little disconcerted by what D-Boy had said; Aki had seemed perfectly sincere about what she was saying, and he knew her well enough to know that _she_ had believed what she was telling him. That only left D-Boy; he didn't know _why_ the kid had told Aki that he would need to be killed if he went over some arbitrary time-limit, but he figured it probably had a lot to do with his personality.

He _hated_ dealing with the self-sacrificing types.

The flight back to Earth was blissfully uneventful, at least if you didn't count Aki's fussing over D-Boy the way she usually did. She was back at her station before he could ask her to do so, though, and she had even strapped D-Boy in so there wouldn't be the risk of something like what had happened to D-Two happening to him. Reentry was as smooth as he could ask for, which was good, since he didn't feel much like dealing with Radam monsters at the moment.

What he really needed, what he was keeping in the back of his mind for when they all got back down to Earth, was the fact that he needed to talk to Honda. If D-Boy hadn't gotten out of the way when he did, then he would have ended up breaking his promise to D-Two just a day after he'd made it. Sure, it hadn't ended up happening, but he didn't want to be the kind of guy who broke his promises like that.

Even if he _had_ thought it was necessary at the time, he still wasn't particularly happy about it.

Once the Blue Earth was back in the landing bay again, he helped Aki get D-Boy off and into the care of the medicos, and then went off in search of Honda. He found the man puttering around with his kites, something he did when there was nothing else impinging on his time.

"Noal!" the large mechanic said jovially. "Have you come to return my watch?"

"You wish, old man," he said, with a chuckle. "I won this baby fair and square."

"I _am_ going to win my watch back from you one of these days, Noal."

"You just keep telling yourself that," he laughed, but then quickly sobered. "I was just wondering if you could take a look at it for me; it's been giving me some trouble lately."

"All right," Honda said, with a somewhat bemused expression. "Sit down, and I'll get my jewelers tools."

Waiting while Honda gathered his things, Noal leaned against the wall, folded his arms, and hoped that whatever was going on with his new watch would turn out to be something innocuous. He hated to think of what he might have done if Blade hadn't been awake enough to dodge that laser blast, or coherent enough to berate him for what he'd been perfectly within reason to see as an unprovoked attack. Still, if that lousy Radam monsters hadn't smashed into the Blue Earth, he would have been able to take care of the watch himself.

"Wait, this is completely busted," Honda said, after he'd removed the back of the watch, and was tightening some loose bit with his little jeweler's screwdriver. When Honda looked up, the expression on his face quickly changed from curious to annoyed. "You must have done something to it!"

"What?" he asked, inwardly cursing; five minutes, he'd tried to kill D-Boy when he had only been transformed for _twenty-five _ minutes. The kid had been exhausted, no doubt about that, but there _hadn't_ been a chance of him going evil on them.

He was really going to hate himself awhile for _that_ little near-fatal screwup.

"You _must_ have done something to it. I've had this watch for years, and it's run perfectly," Honda said, starting to sound honestly _angry_.

"I don't know what you're talking about, old man. I've treated that watch perfectly fine," he said; of course, there _had_ been that time with D-Boy... the kid had run out of the room like the hounds of hell were on his heels, or like he just couldn't stand to be there for even another _second_. Although, after what _he'd_ been saying to the kid... he'd landed on his wrist after the kid had broken his hold, but he wasn't going to try blaming _D-Boy_ for that.

"Don't give me _that_! It's inhumane not to take care of machines!" Honda said, lunging out of his seat with a raised fist. He had a brief moment of _oh crap_, when Honda brought a truly _huge_ double-ended wrench out from somewhere under the table he'd been working on his kites, and then cleared off to work on the watch. The mechanic shouted, the wrench held up over his head. When he lunged out from behind the table, wrench still in hand, Noal got the feeling that it would be best for him to be somewhere else. Somewhere _very_ else. "You stay right there, so I can hit you with this wrench!"

"Come on, gimmie a break!" Time to _run like hell!_ He heard Honda shouting from behind him. For someone with his girth, he was pretty spry.

XV

She had come into the treatment room on something of a whim, just wanting to see how D-Two was doing so she could have something to talk to D-Boy about that _wasn't_ as morbid as their last two conversations had been. It was plain luck that she'd seen D-Two's eyelashes fluttering, but it had been her choice to stay, to see if he was actually starting to wake up and not just shifting in his sleep.

When his blue eyes opened at last, though, she smiled.

Just a few seconds later, the door slid open to admit D-Boy himself, who had an expression of such complete, utter relief on his face, Aki almost felt like she was intruding on a private moment just by being in the same room. When D-Boy looked at her for the first time, his green eyes slightly distant, she felt the weight of his gaze on her, and she knew that she was indeed intruding on an intensely private moment. Was about to be, at least; neither D-Boy nor D-Two had actually _done_ anything, but there was a subtle tension in the air.

As if they were both waiting on her to leave; they really were such intensely private people.

"I'm going to go get the Chief. I'll tell him that your brother's feeling better, D-Boy," she said, smiling at the expression of subdued relief that spread across the faces of both twins.

"Thank you, Aki," D-Two said, smiling softly back at her.

XVI

Once Aki had left the room, with the door hissing shut behind her, he wrapped his arms around Shinya, buried his face in his younger twin's chest, and shivered. He had come so close to losing him, in more than one way, that he found he couldn't help the tears that were running out of his eyes.

_(Shinya, I'm so glad you're still alive.)_

_(I am, too, Ta-kun,)_ Shinya said. _(You haven't been bored while I was gone, have you?)_ There was a definite undertone of teasing in his brother's voice, and when Takaya looked back up at his brother's face, he saw a ghost of Shinya's teasing smile.

"It's good to see you again, brother," he said, standing back up and wiping the tears of relief from his eyes with the long, black cuff of his Space Knight uniform.

And not a moment too soon, as it turned out, because the door hissed open just then, letting the Chief, Aki, Noal, Levin and Honda into the infirmary's treatment room. Noal, after looking over Shinya as if to make sure that nothing was wrong with his brother – as strange a thought as Noal worrying about either of them was – before heading determinedly for Takaya himself.

"D-Boy," the blond said, sidling up to him. "I was wondering if I could have a bit of a chat with you? In private?"

Taking in the expression on Noal's face; one of honestly, and a bit of trepidation, Takaya decided to give the man the benefit of the doubt. He'd earned a bit of trust, though Takaya had to admit that he was still fairly annoyed with him for jumping the gun the way he had. He wanted an explanation for that, at least. If nothing else, he wanted to know if he could actually trust Noal to watch his back without trying to put a laser-bolt into it, or if it was just going to be him and Shinya.

He didn't want to go into battle without knowing.

XVII

"D-Two, I want you to be fully rested before you return to duty," was the first thing that the Chief – the first thing that anyone who wasn't Takaya – said to him.

"Thank you, Chief," he said, with an airy smile. "I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused you."

"Don't worry, D-Two," Honda said, with what he took to be a reassuring expression. "We Space Knights have dealt with troublesome situations before."

"Besides, someone so cute couldn't ever be any trouble at all," Levin said, grinning at him.

Something in Levin's tone of voice prompted Shinya to smirk. "Levin, if you're not careful, someone might start thinking you're in love with me."

"Yeah," Milly said, laughing softly. "Levin is strange enough without giving people ideas like _that_."

"Oh, and what's wrong with that?" Levin said, making a brief noise of derision. "D-Two's almost cuter than D-Boy," he continued, giving Shinya an exaggerated once-over that he couldn't help but be amused by. "Even when he's not Tekkaman Varis."

"Well, at least you have good taste," he said, grinning at the other man; he was kind of fun, Shinya had to admit.

"You're both weirder than that Radam Balloon," Milly said, the look on her face slightly teasing.

_(Ta-kun, what are you and Noal talking about?)_ he asked, even as he joined in with the laughter echoing around his bed.

_(Our place here, Shin-chan.)_

XVIII

As Shinya's presence retreated to a warm glow at the back of his mind, Takaya turned his attention back to Noal. He wasn't pleased with the idea that a malfunctioning watch had nearly cost him his life, but willing to overlook it since Noal had said he'd gotten it fixed. There were other, more pressing issues on his mind at the moment.

"I thought, when I told Aki, that you wouldn't hesitate to kill me," he said, facing Noal under the light of the second full moon of the month; he wanted to think it was some kind of auspicious occasion, but the moonlight still had that same, unnerving effect on him as it had before.

"You're right. I don't trust you, and when you finally _do_ turn against the Earth, I'll definitely be the one to kill you," Noal returned; he didn't really know what to make of the smile on the other man's face, but on Shinya, he would have said that it was a teasing one. He didn't know Noal enough to judge his facial expressions, so he wasn't going to try.

There was a moment of silence between them; Takaya let it stretch.

"The moon is beautiful tonight, don't you think?"

"Yeah," he said, turning to face the moon as Noal left for the lighted interior of the command center. "The moon is beautiful."

_(So, Ta-kun?)_

_(I think we might be safe with these people, Shin-chan,)_ he responded, with a soft sigh.

_(Or, they'll at least be safe with us here,)_ Shinya continued, sounding like he was considering something else entirely.

_(Yeah,)_ he said, glancing back at the moon a last time; he wished he knew what it was that made him so eager to be in sight of it, and yet so unnerved by it at the same time.

That was really all there was to say.

XIX

Buried with his ship on the dark side of the moon, shielded from the humans and their spacecraft by the surface of the satellite itself, Omega considered again the problem of his traitorous little escapees. That they were tenacious and determined, even going so far as to fight alone when the mood struck them just to keep themselves sharp, would have been a great asset if not for the fact that they were fighting for the very species that he was trying to subjugate. It was an annoying situation, to be sure, and all the moreso because he did not quite know how to handle it.

Perhaps he needed to consider different tactics, if he was to deal with the two little half-humans properly.

"So, you've made your stand here, have you?" he muttered, speaking aloud solely for his own benefit; the silence here could truly become oppressive at times. "Fools. Only death awaits traitors."


	6. One Tekset Impossible

Settling back into his bed, after so long in the infirmary – even though he didn't remember much except waking up with Takaya and Aki – was a nice change of pace. Now, if he could have avoided the nightmares, then things would have been perfect. Still, this was the best sleep he'd gotten without some kind of life-threatening injury, or drugs, to help him along; something to be grateful for, at least.

Turning to look over at his wall clock, he found that it was just a little under an hour before he and Takaya would have normally gotten up for breakfast.

_(Brother?)_

_(You're alive.)_ There was genuine relief in his brother's voice, and for a moment Shinya felt a swell of sympathy.

_(Of course I am,) _he said, trying to lighten the mood. _(Did you think I'd die so easily?)_

_(I didn't know what was going to happen,)_ Takaya said, sounding more than a little uneasy; Shinya could definitely sympathize. _(I'm glad you're still alive.)_

_(I am, too,)_ he said, levering himself up and out of bed, then starting to undress.

The clothes he'd worn to bed last night were pretty much only suitable for sleeping in, or for when he'd been recovering in the treatment room, but he couldn't honestly expect to go traipsing around OSDG Headquarters at large in nothing but this. Not if he didn't want to look crazy, at least. So, he was going to have to do something about them.

Washing up and changing, Shinya made a mental note to get in a shower when he had the opportunity to get back to his room. It'd been entirely too long since he'd indulged himself with a long, hot shower, and he was looking forward to it. When he was finished with his morning routine, Shinya left the bathroom, tossed his sleepwear into the hamper, and went over to his small closet to get another uniform.

It could have been annoying, wearing the same kind of clothes day in and day out, if he let himself think that way, at least. Still, given how many things there were to distract him from the niggling little details of life like what he wore and such, Shinya figured that he'd be able to cope. Well, that and the fact that he didn't actually _have_ anything besides spare Space Knight uniforms to wear.

Heading over to the door, Shinya opened it to find Takaya waiting for him there. There was a look of profound relief on his face, and Shinya tried not to think about the reasons for it. It would be enough that he and Takaya were back together; they wouldn't let it be any other way.

"Good morning, Ta-kun," he said, smiling as Takaya's expression settled back into its usual stoic lines.

"Good morning," Takaya said, with a small, brief smile. "My Shin-chan."

I

While he waited for the tekkapod that he had come to consider his own to finish healing his body, Dagger seethed over the injuries to his pride; such wounds as _those_ would not be so easily salved. He was supposed to be _better_ than the traitors; he was _complete_, while the two of them had been unable to complete their own transformations for whatever reason. It was infuriating: he had been beaten by _half-creatures_, those who still clung to the miserable little dustball that Lord Omega had determined to conquer.

That was not the way things were meant to go; _he_ was the one who should have been defeating them with ease, no matter the fact that they possessed the advantage of superior numbers.

Instead, he was within the halls of Lord Omega's great ship, having been forced to spend an interminable amount of time recovering from the wounds that those vile little half-humans had inflicted on him. It was infuriating.

Oh, there were no physical wounds on his flesh, no scarring such as that he had inflicted on one of the traitors; the scar that Blade bore on his face was a point of pride for him, and he only regretted the fact that he hadn't been able to rip open Evil's face, too.

His armor, however, had been broken; the facial covering shattered, a lens missing, and the organic circuitry exposed for all to see. And while it _was_ true that he could have easily been healed of such a thing within the tekkapod itself, he would still _remember_ the damage that had been inflicted on him by the traitor Blade. He would _remember_, and thus seeing his own armored face, whole and unmarked, would feel like a mockery to him.

That was why he had left before the cosmetic damage to his armor had been repaired.

Leaning against the large organic structures that held the tekkapods, his armor gone and his right hand cupping the right side of his face, Dagger breathed steadily as he again considered how, _precisely_, he would kill Blade and Evil for this insult. It would not be an incidental challenge, but there were things that he had learned while he was being shaped into a proper servant of the glorious Radam empire. More specifically, something particularly interesting.

A thing that, if he could lay his hands on enough, would provide him with a superb advantage in the next battle; something that he could use to kill Tekkaman Blade and his little brother, Tekkaman Evil. 

_(Lord Omega?)_

_(Yes?)_

_(Could I ask a favor of you?)_

II

They had finished breakfast without running into anyone they'd known very well, and so hadn't ended up getting drawn into any conversation that neither of them had been in the mood for, but he really should have known better than to expect it to last. He and Shinya just weren't that lucky.

"Hey, D-Boys," Noal greeted cordially, as if he hadn't just basically admitted to being fully willing – and even _ready_ – to kill them if the situation ever called for it.

Now, it wasn't as if he was begrudging Noal his commitment to his friends and to the Earth, since he wasn't stupid enough not to realize how dangerous he and Shinya would have been if they were ever made to side with the Radam, but knowing that you were speaking to your own potential assassin was bound to make anyone uneasy. He wasn't going to say anything, though; there was no point. Noal wasn't the kind of person who would listen.

"Well, since it seems I'm a bit too late to sit down and have breakfast with you boys, how about we all head down to the gym and try to work off some of that extra weight you've both been putting on?" he suggested, gently poking Shinya in the abdomen, with the kind of teasing smile that Takaya usually only associated with his younger twin.

_(Why is Noal being so nice to us, Ta-kun?)_ Shinya asked, sounding about as bewildered as Takaya himself felt.

_(I don't know, Shin-chan,)_ he said; their talk from last night was still fresh in his mind.

"I don't believe it," Noal said, looking from him to Shinya with an incredulous grin. "You're actually doing the 'twin' thing," he laughed.

"What?" he asked, nearly at the same time as Shinya did; that only made Noal laugh harder, for some weird reason or other.

"Never mind; never mind," the blond said, obviously working to get himself back under control. "I guess it makes sense, what with you two actually _being_ twins. Anyway, seriously this time, do you guys want to head down to the gym with me?"

They didn't have any really pressing engagements elsewhere, and they probably _would_ have headed down there eventually anyway, if only to keep their minds off of… all of the _other_ things they could have been thinking about. So, with a quick look at Shinya to see what he thought of the idea – which made Noal snicker again – he turned his attention back to Noal.

"All right," he said, waiting until the man had regained most of his composure.

"Right," Noal said, looking amusedly from him to Shinya and back again.

III

"Dagger, you've recovered from your injuries?"

"I have," he said, kneeling before the great Warlord's throne once again. He had explained his plan, and detailed what he would require to carry it out, and yet he was not entirely certain that his Lord would give him what he needed. It was absurd; the traitors were a threat to everything they were planning, and thus it was only sensible that every one of their resources be dedicated to the elimination of those worthless half-creatures, and yet he still felt uneasy. "I'm ready to return to battle."

"Are you? I see that scar on your face has not yet healed."

"I left it that way; I chose to, intentionally," he said; could it be _that_ which was making him uneasy? The thought that his Lord would be unwilling to allow him to return to his hunt for the traitors if he did not appear to be in perfect form?

"Indeed?" he felt the ancient weight of the Warlord's gaze settling fully on him. "I trust that you have a reason."

He seethed momentarily at the reminder, and then shoved his anger aside; there would be ample time to revenge himself on the true authors of his disfigurement later, he would see to that. "Yes; to remind myself of the humiliation I suffered at the hands of Blade, and his little brother, Evil."

"Ah; I suppose it would have to be something like that. Still, I have decided that I will give this assignment to another…"

It had to have been this, what he had been so uneasy about. Still, even if he had to argue with his Lord, then so be it; he would _not_ be denied his vengeance. "Wait, please! I can't allow anyone else to have this assignment! I swear, I'll kill _both_ of the traitors with my own hands!"

"You want _revenge_, then," Lord Omega said, seeming almost to savor the word. "Along with that plan you told me about; you're certain of victory?"

"Yes."

"Then I will have faith in you, Dagger."

_This time… this time, I will _definitely_ kill both of you. Blade. Evil,_ he vowed, as Omega's signature teleportation enveloped him. He knew where the most important elements of this plan that he had been forming were stored, and now all that remained was to gather them. And then to begin laying the foundations of a trap that would cripple Blade and his worthless brother, Evil; to kill them, both for the Radam, and for himself.

IV

Feeling a familiar sense of tired satisfaction, the kind that athletes and martial artists both shared, Takaya smiled slightly. It was strange to think about, the fact that he had been with Noal for two-and-a-half hours without feeling the urge to punch the other man in the face, but Noal actually seemed to be making an effort to get along with them. Time would tell how long it would last, but he would make it a point to enjoy it.

The alarm, this time he recognized it as the 'general-alert' right away, went off and he chuckled. They were all lucky that the alarm hadn't started blaring five minutes earlier, or else he would have been in the middle of a shower.

_(Everyday's the same, eh brother?)_ Shinya's sardonic amusement came through clearly over their link, and Takaya found that he couldn't help a little teasing of his own.

_(At least _I'll_ be _decent_ for the meeting,)_ he retorted. (You_ said that you were going to be taking a long, hot shower, and we both know what that means. Lazy Shin-chan._)

_(I got out a couple minutes ago, uptight Ta-kun,)_ Shinya pointed out, with a certain degree of smugness. _(My hair might still be a bit damp, but I'll be making the meeting.)_

_(Yes, I'm sure you'll look _very_ dignified, standing in the main room with a damp towel wrapped around your head,)_ Takaya chuckled.

_(I should punch you for that.)_

_(I'll hit you back,) _he retorted, grinning; he'd really missed this, and Shinya was clearly making up for lost time, too.

_(Silly Ta-kun,)_ Shinya said.

Takaya grinned. _(Shinya-sune.)_

Leaving his room at last, Takaya eventually caught up to Shinya in the halls. And, just as he'd been expecting, Shinya tried to smack him on the back of the head. Dodging, Takaya tried to flick Shinya's nose when he got close enough. His brother dodged likewise, and the two of them shared grins.

Running his fingers through his damp, disordered hair, as the two of them started making for the main room at a quick clip, Shinya was clearly regaining his composure. Breathing out, Takaya gathered his. They'd been having fun, but now wasn't likely to be the time for fun; alerts usually only meant one thing: the Radam were moving again.

V

When the Gemini Boys made their way into the Central Room, looking about as stoic as ever, Noal found himself envying their composure at the same time that the wondered if there was anything behind it. Still, now wasn't really the time to think about what their superheroes might or might not really be thinking about.

"Help me! I'm surrounded by these- these creepy, bug-eyed monsters! I've been locked up here with them for a month!" begged the man's voice on the transmission, the one that one of the radio-operators had picked up. "I'm in Area 138, Agricultural Plant no. 36! Help! Someone, anyone, please help me!"

Chief Freeman signaled for the nearest comm. tech to turn it off. Those words pretty much killed any lingering good mood in the air.

"We received this message about ten minutes ago," the Chief said seriously, sweeping them all with his pinkish gaze. "It was sent from the Orbital Ring."

"So, there could still be survivors there?" Aki asked, sounding almost hopeful.

"But, that's not possible!" Milly burst out.

"Come on, I'm sure you know how big it is," he said, smiling. "I'm sure there are a lot of places to hide."

The twins couldn't have checked _all_ of it, and humans were more clever than even some of their own kind often gave them credit for. Besides, it was another chance to spit in the eye of the Radam and all their Tekkamen, stealing their victims right out from under them. Of course, blowing them into space dust was a good way to do that, too.

But then, _that _was what the Gemini Boys were for.

"Either way, we can't just let this go," the Chief said; he would have been the first to point out such a thing, if the Chief hadn't beaten him to it. "Prepare the Blue Earth for launch immediately; you'll be going on a rescue mission."

"Roger!" all of them answered at once; even the Gemini Boys, which was kind of funny when you thought about it.

VI

They all left the comm. center together, and she turned back to look at the twins. The both of them seemed to be off in their own little world, but every so often one of them would look up as if to check that they were still heading in the right direction. Noal said that they were just 'doing the twin thing', and that she shouldn't worry too much about it. She didn't think even _he_ knew what he actually meant when he said that, so she opted to ignore him and keep periodically looking back to check on the twins.

They were all heading to the Blue Earth, there to make their way to the Orbital Ring so they would be able to rescue that poor, brave man who had escaped from the Radam only to be confronted by their vicious monsters.

Once they were all safely onboard the Blue Earth, Honda informed them that there would be a two-minute delay while he finished the repairs to the Blue Earth's hull. Not wanting them to have any more problems than what the Radam would be all-too-willing to provide for them, Aki sat back and waited. The twins seemed to be kind of edgy about something, but then they _were_ going into a probable battle with the Radam's seemingly endless hordes of monsters, so that was only to be expected.

When they were given the green light to launch, the powerful rumble of the engines gave her a few moments of calm and comfort. _Just hold on out there, whoever you are; we'll be there soon._ They soon cleared the last of the atmosphere, and she set about her navigational duties in earnest. It might have fallen to the twins to save them from any of the Radam monsters that might try to attack them, and to Noal to fly the ship, but it was up to _her_ to guide the Blue Earth safely on its way.

"I wonder how many survivors there are," she mused, not entirely aware that she had been speaking aloud until Noal responded.

"Who knows?" Noal said. "Let's hope that there are only enough to fit on the ship."

"Noal!" she admonished, looking back at him for a moment before turning her attention back to the navcomp. "We should hope for more people to have survived than just that; even if it's just one person."

"No; it would be better if there was only one," D-Boy said, his expression unreadable.

"What?" Noal demanded, and Aki herself wondered how D-Boy could be so callous. "Are you saying you're not in the _mood_ to rescue anyone?"

"Brother and I will go anywhere with you if it means we can fight the Radam," D-Boy said, folding his arms behind his head. He looked relaxed, but there was an intensity in his eyes when he looked toward the Orbital Ring that she didn't know quite how to interpret.

"Then, you shouldn't even care if it's just one person, or a whole crowd!" Noal snapped.

"No, it would be better if it was just one person," D-Boy said firmly. "When you're alone, you don't have anything to lose."

"What?" Noal asked, and she was about as curious as he was.

"How can you _say_ that?" she implored, not liking the ominous tone of D-Boy's words. "Wouldn't you be sad if something happened to your brother?"

"That's not a question you should ask, Aki."

D-Two's contribution to their conversation didn't make her feel any better about the situation they might be heading into; if anything, his words were more ominous than D-Boy's. The rest of their journey to the Orbital Ring was made in a tense sort of silence, not something she was entirely fond of, but the voice that broke the silence didn't improve the general mood at all.

"Help me! I'm trapped! Outside, there's- and-!"

"We've been cut off," she reported.

"Then, the Radam must have found him," Noal said grimly. A brief look passed between D-Two and D-Boy; both of them looked wary, but resigned to heading inside to take a look. "Aki, which spaceport is closest to us?"

"Wait a minute," she said. "The 6th spaceport, two kilometers; that's the one closest to our position."

"Blue Earth, we've been disconnected from this end," Milly said, appearing just after she had deactivated the navcomp screen. "What about you?"

"It's the same, here," she reported. "We're just about to go in."

"Good luck!" Milly said.

"Roger," she said, smiling at the younger Space Knight's concern.

As Noal guided the ship closer to their ultimate destination, Aki began to notice something wrong.

"Damn, the gate's still closed," he said; she only had a half a moment to wonder just what in the heck he thought he was doing, before Noal fired the Blue Earth's laser cannons, and dropped them down into the air lock. "We'll just break in, then!"

That was bound to cause them some problems when they wanted to debark, but for now, she honestly couldn't think of any other way that they would have been able to get inside the Orbital Ring to be able to help the people who had been trapped up there by the Radam and their monsters. She didn't want to give into the pessimism that the twins had so obviously developed over their time fighting the Radam, and Noal clearly wasn't willing to, either.

VII

As they all made their way to the airlock to get some EVA suits, so they wouldn't have trouble breathing and not exploding from the pressure differences and stuff, Noal took a moment to consider the Gemini Boys. They were being all grim and serious, as if they really _believed_ that this was all some kind of Radam trick. Now, there _was_ such a thing as healthy skepticism, but this was verging into all-out paranoia.

He'd have to find a way to lighten the mood; paranoia wouldn't do any of them any good.

As they trooped out the exit, with the small bit of weirdness that came from _feeling_ your own footsteps rather than _hearing_ them, Noal saw D-Boy and D-Two doing the twin thing again: a single look passed from one of them to the other, and the other ducked his head in something that was obviously meant to be shorthand for a nod.

"Brother and I will handle this on our own," D-Boy said, his helmet still clutched under his arm; D-Two was already putting his own helmet on and getting it fitted snugly.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded; he'd almost expected this, but that _didn't_ mean he was going to go along with it. "We're all going together."

"There's no telling when the Radam will strike again, and brother and I are the only ones who can fight them," D-Boy said, not turning around to look at him; it was as if he was already halfway down the main corridor; already confronting whatever it was that was making him and D-Two so jumpy.

"And here we go again…" he said; granted, the two of them were just about the most powerful fighting force that the world had ever seen, but there was no way he was letting on that he thought _that_.

"It's too dangerous for just the two of you on your own," Aki said.

"Just stay here, and be ready to launch the Blue Earth at any time," D-Boy said, calmly enough that it was all Noal could do not to roll his eyes at the kid; he really hated dealing with the self-sacrificing types. "Brother and I will be back soon."

"Hey, we're not your chauffeurs," he said, smirking slightly. "Fine; just get going."

"We're going, Noal," D-Two's voice sounded kind of funny, coming from both his small comm. and from under his helmet where it was slightly muffled. "Stay safe while we're gone."

"You two stay safe, too," Aki said. "And, remember to keep your radios on at all times, okay?"

"Okay," D-Boy said calmly.

"Just don't go turning into Tekkaman Blade in front of all of our guests, D-Boy, or else they'll think you're one of the monsters we're trying to save them from," he said. "Listen to D-Two."

The Gemini Boys disappeared from his sight without another word, off into the recesses of the Orbital Ring to find the survivors of the Radam's constant offensives.

"Noal!" Aki snapped.

"What? It's not like anything I said wasn't true. You know that D-Two's a lot more sensible than our D-Boy," he said, giving her a mock-incredulous look.

VIII

As the two of them moved down the long, empty halls of the Orbital Ring, passing the evidence of the Radam's constant attacks, Takaya felt the uneasiness in the pit of his stomach deepening steadily.

_(It's just the same.)_

_(Yeah; it is,)_ Shinya responded, as the two of them continued on their way to their intended destination, sweeping the corridor with their helmet-lights as they went.

There were times when it was fine to just rely on their enhanced senses, but as unlikely as he found it, there still might be a chance that they would be picking up human survivors from

here. And, if that was the case, they wanted the people to be able to see them when they came. Even though the thought of he and Shinya wearing great, big, radiating beacons on their heads gave him the cold shakes whenever he thought too much about it.

They'd be lit up all nice and bright if Tekkaman Dagger decided to pay them a visit, and they were bound to suffer for it.

"D-Boy, what's the situation?" Aki's voice came in loud and clear over the comm., just the way it was intended to; it probably _hadn't_ been intended to startle the hell out of him, but he was wound tightly enough that intent didn't matter so much in that case.

"Sorry, brother's too busy panicking," Shinya said flippantly; Takaya softly punched him in the shoulder for that. "We're just about to enter the agricultural plant; there's no Radam in sight right now."

"That's good," she said. "You and D-Boy be careful."

"Don't worry, Aki," Shinya said, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll make sure brother stays out of trouble."

_(Shinya-sune,)_ he said, rolling his eyes as Aki and even Noal started laughing over the comm.

_(Silly Ta-kun,)_ Shinya said, giving him a sidelong look; he just _knew_ that Shinya was smirking at him behind that breather mask.

Opening the door in front of them manually, since this like pretty much all the other sections of the Orbital Ring was without power, Takaya took a deep breath to steady himself. He could feel Shinya straightening up beside him. This wasn't the time for playing around; not anymore.

The shattered tanks on either side of them were eerily reminiscent of… things he'd rather not think about. Looking at the mix of gasses and their present volume, wanting to take his mind off of the things he couldn't change, Takaya raised his eyebrows slightly. "It looks like there's oxygen in here," he said.

He and Shinya both removed their helmets, and he took a deep breath of the air. It was cold, and a bit stale, but that was probably all he could expect considering the circumstances. Looking around at the room with his unfiltered eyesight, Takaya found he couldn't quite suppress a shudder of distaste; _the ship, our ship_- clenching his jaw, he forced that thought back down into the recesses of his subconscious where it belonged.

"Hey, is there anyone in here?! If there is, answer me!"

"Don't worry!" Shinya called, pitching his voice to carry through the room. "We've been sent from Earth to help you! We have a ship!"

There was no response to either of them; the uneasy feeling that had been settled in his stomach began to creep up the back of his spine. This didn't feel right; _nothing_ about this felt right. It was like there was something he was being forced _not_ to see; something almost like the sense he always had of Shinya, only...

He couldn't sense it, not at all, he could only tell where it _wasn't_.

_(Are you all right, Ta-kun?)_ he felt Shinya's right hand on his lower arm, squeezing gently; just the kind of anchor he needed.

Reaching over to rub the back of his younger twin's hand, Takaya sighed. _(Just… memories; that's all.)_

_(Yeah.)_

They stayed like that for a few seconds, each taking comfort from the other in this strange-but-uncomfortably-familiar place, before they started moving forward again. Their clasped hands giving the both of them something to hold onto. Takaya was glad for it, and he knew that Shinya was, too.

IX

Ah, here they were at last; so predictable, always playing the gallant heroes. It seemed all too appropriate that they had fallen in with humans who called themselves Knights. Letting loose a small tendril of thought, right into the link that all Tekkamen shared with one another, he watched in amusement as Blade's mouth fell open, and Evil slammed his feet into the floor in an effort to bring his forward momentum to a complete stop.

It was terribly amusing, the way their hands each tightened on the other's, as if they were trying to lend strength to their feeble, incomplete forms through something as prosaic as physical contact; it was cute, pathetic, and so utterly, utterly futile.

Moving forward again, now and then sending out spikes of his own awareness to skitter across their shared link, keeping the little half-creatures off-balance, and just generally entertaining himself, he continued on his course to the appointed stage. It would soon come time for him to reveal himself, and thus the trap that he had so perfectly constructed, but for the moment he would amuse himself by toying with his unknowing prey. Vengeance was a thing best savored, long and slow.

"What's going on?" the little scarred traitor demanded, after he had given a particularly harsh shove to their mental link; he laughed at the expressions he would no doubt see on their faces, judging by the emotions he was sensing from them.

"Oh, so it's just the two of you?" he said, turning and grinning down at the little traitors from the control board he was standing atop. "That's good."

"Fritz!" the scarred traitor snarled.

"Oh?" he mocked. Dagger bared his teeth in something that could almost be mistaken for a grin. "It's been such a long time since I last heard that name. But, that's all in the past, now. Don't you agree, Blade? Evil?"

"So, you couldn't even die when brother killed you?" the other traitor demanded, his blue eyes snapping with amusing, impotent fury.

"I wasn't going to die so easily," he shrugged indifferently. "But you… The both of you are going to die, right here and now! You're traitors! The traitors Tekkaman Blade and Tekkaman Evil!"

"You were the one who sent out that distress call?" the scarred traitor demanded.

"Yes, it was a ploy to lure the two of you here," he said; he'd even recorded it just for them and their little human pets, but he wasn't about to start off on any irrelevant tangents. He had prolonged this farce for as long as he desired; it was time to end it. "And also, to kill you!"

Raising his tekkaset, the key to his own, _complete_ transformation, Dagger willed the metamorphosis to happen; the little traitors called out to him once, but he ignored them. "Teksetta!" Once his armor had fully enclosed him, and his wound was visible for all to see, he turned his attention back to the traitors. "Tekkaman Dagger!"

He would do them the honor of telling them why they were to die this day; not only for betraying their master and abandoning their proper place in the universe, such a thing might have been forgiven if they had just been intelligent enough to surrender themselves once it had become clear that they were not where they truly belonged, but after this… he would _not_ forgive them this insult.

"Blade!" he snarled. "This scar of mine that I received from you, shall be avenged today!"

Raising his hand to the ceiling, where he had carefully placed cluster upon cluster of disrupter crystals, setting the stage where he would see the traitors suffer and die for their betrayal, he felt nothing more than a slight, momentary tingle as the energies washed over him. And even this was more than either of the traitors would feel.

At least until the time came.

X

When Fritz had made that stupid, over dramatic gesture at the ceiling, Shinya had almost expected that something would actually _happen_. Still, Fritz seemed to be a little addle-brained from what he'd gone through after Takaya had defeated him. Seriously, he was complaining about injuries that could only be seen in his armored form, and that could have been healed in a few hours by a tekkapod?

Fritz was being an idiot. Sure, he _had_ been more than a bit vain sometimes, but that had been mostly a joke. Still, he sounded like he obviously meant it _now_, so they would have to deal with him. Even if his reason for fighting them _was_ stupid.

"Teksetta!" he and Takaya shouted together, just like they always did.

Unfortunately, that was the _only_ thing that went the way it always did. The next few minutes – a subjective eternity – were filled with the kind of pain that Shinya thought he had left behind when he'd escaped from that damned tekkapod. Hearing Takaya's screams from just in front of him certainly didn't make Shinya feel any better about his situation. The pain; it was like being flayed with a cheese grater, and then submerged in some kind of acid solution.

His throat felt raw from screaming, by the time the pain subsided and he found himself lying prone on the floor of. His burning lungs demanded air, and Shinya took in as much of it as his raw throat would allow.

"How sad," Fritz all but cackled. "You're both trapped in an Interference Spectrum; it nullifies the Tek Set System. If you both keep trying to transform, the energy you generate will only be redirected, and then you'll end up hurting yourselves!"

"Damn it…" Takaya muttered; Shinya spared a sympathetic thought for the rawness in his brother's voice. "This isn't possible."

"The only thing that awaits you and Evil now is death, Blade!" Fritz sounded entirely too gleeful about that. "But don't think I'm going to let you and your little brother off with a painless death, traitor!"

Shinya thought for a moment that he could hear something crackling, like ice chipping or something, but the sight of Fritz's glowing arrow so very, _very_ close to where he and Takaya were both lying almost helpless wiped those thoughts right out of his mind. Leaping up from the floor, just as Fritz fired, Shinya felt Takaya grab hold of his arm and pull him out of the reach of the explosion.

After that, it was like one long, intermittent, horizontal rainstorm. Only the raindrops were Fritz's exploding senbon, and if they caught one of those things anywhere, they were going to get worse than wet. A lot worse.

"Run away, run away!" Fritz taunted. "Just keep running as far and as fast as you can!"

Another one of his arrows buzzed past their legs, and Takaya yanked him out of its path and into a dark, confined space under the cover of the smoke and flying debris from the explosion. He didn't know quite what his brother was thinking, but when Fritz flew right past their hiding place without a word or a look back, Shinya allowed himself to breathe more freely. They weren't safe, not so long as Fritz was still loose in the Orbital Ring with them, and not when they were still beneath so many of those Interference Spectrum crystals, but they _were_ in less immediate danger than they had been.

_(Shinya, let me see your Tekkaset,)_ Takaya said suddenly, turning his attention away from the Interference Spectrum crystals that hung above them like malevolent chandeliers.

_(All right, brother, but -)_ Trailing off once he had actually had a chance to _look_ at the key to his own transformation, Shinya saw the semi-long crack running up the center of it. _(Oh.)_

_(Shinya,)_ Takaya's eyes darted from Shinya's own eyes to the tekkaset in his hands. _(Can you make it disappear again?)_

_(Maybe…)_ He concentrated, and the crystal in his hands vanished to wherever it was that their crystals stayed when they weren't being held.

_(Good,)_ Takaya looked up at him, right into his eyes; mind-to-mind like this, it was almost all he needed. _Almost_. _(Shinya, I don't want you to do that again,) _he said in a rush. _(Not until I know it's safe.)_

_(Are you underestimating me, Ta-kun?)_ he asked, looking back into Takaya's green eyes with the same intensity that his brother was trying to use on _him_.

_(No, Shinya,)_ Takaya said. _(I just-)_

_(What?)_

_(I don't want you to suffer anymore, Shinya,)_ Takaya said, his mental tone somehow quieter, or maybe it was just more subdued. When Takaya laid his forehead on Shinya's shoulder, he was surprised by the gesture; neither of them had done _that_ kind of thing since they were kids. _(I can't watch Shin-chan suffer.)_

_(My hopeless Ta-kun,)_ he said, reaching out to wrap his arms around Takaya, and gently stroking his brother's hair. _(All right; I'll let you protect me, just this once.)_

"D-Boy? D-Two?" Aki's voice over the comm, the first voice he'd heard in some time that wasn't either telepathic or belonging to someone that wanted to kill him, was a welcome relief.

"Aki, it's good to hear from you again," Takaya said, sounding as calm as he ever did. It was something they'd both learned to do, and it was important that they _keep_ doing it; they'd never have any peace otherwise.

"What's happening, D-Boy?"

"It was all a trap; brother and I aren't able to use our Tek Set System," Takaya reported, while Shinya himself kept a lookout for Fritz; speaking out loud like this, there was a better-than-average chance that the Radam Tekkaman would be able to find them.

He didn't know what he would do if that happened, what he _could_ do without his armor to protect him, but he would at least do _something_.

"Why not?" she asked.

"I think it's because of some kind of special beam called the Interference Spectrum," Takaya reported, after a moment of hesitation that only Shinya was equipped to understand.

"What?" Noal demanded. "Then just come back here, right away!"

"No, we're going to stay here," Takaya retorted; Shinya tensed as a shadow passed by their hiding place, but it turned out to be nothing more than his eyes playing tricks on him, so he relaxed. "Noal, you and Aki should get back to Earth."

"No way!" Aki exclaimed.

"What are you and D-Two planning?!" Noal demanded.

"Brother and I will find our own way out; I'm sure we'll be able to Tek-Set then," Takaya explained calmly.

"Don't be so reckless! Just retreat!" Noal ordered, and Shinya was touched by the blond's concern.

"If brother and I are able to Tek-Set, then I'm sure we'll be all right. We just need to find a way out."

_(Takaya-!) _he tried to warn his brother, but Fritz grabbed him by the hair and dragged him out of their not-so-hidden-hiding place and threw him to the ground before he could get out another word.

"Blade," Fritz said, his attention obviously focused on Takaya.

Bracing his arms against the deck, Shinya started to turn himself over, to try to do… whatever he could against a fully-armored Tekkaman. But then, before he could even get to his knees, Fritz kicked him over onto his back and pinned him there with his foot. A foot pressed against his _throat_, no less; as he gagged, trying to breathe past the armored foot crushing his throat, Shinya activated his comm.

Even if he couldn't do anything meaningful against Fritz, he could at least let Aki and Noal know what was going on between them.

"Let me go!" Takaya demanded.

"I've been thrown aside! Branded useless for losing to the two of you!" Fritz exclaimed. "I'm going to _savor_ this!"

XI

When he felt the comm. break in his hand, after Fritz had thrown him against the far wall, Takaya could only hope that Noal and Aki had the sense not to make any more transmissions. Shinya's commlink was the only one still intact; the only connection either of them had to the Blue Earth anymore, and to a way back to Earth itself. Shaking off the minor disorientation from his harsh stop, he opened his eyes to see Shinya struggling in Fritz's grip, trying in vain to pry that armored hand off his neck.

What was worse, though, was the sight of Fritz with the sharp point of his double-ended bow drawn forward, obviously preparing to drive it into Shinya's head.

Running as fast as he could, Takaya body-slammed Tekkaman Dagger from the side. He was quickly back-handed for his efforts, something he'd been expecting, but at least he had managed to make Fritz let go. That was all he'd really had in mind; all he could really do at the moment.

XII

He'd heard D-Two struggling and gagging, and then a sudden grunt from D-Boy, followed closely by the sound of something soft being slammed into a metal wall. He'd also heard the Gemini Boys' conversation with Dagger; that guy was obviously off his nut, and just as obviously violently homicidal.

"They're both alone," Aki said, just after she'd switched off their end of the connection to D-Two's comm.; no sense in letting Dagger know that they were still eavesdropping on his little party.

"Aki, we're taking off now," he muttered, though he was still more concerned about those "Interference Spectrum" crystals that D-Boy had mentioned in his report.

"Noal!" Aki shouted.

"D-Boy said he and D-Two could handle things once they were out, right?" he asked; there'd obviously been some miscommunication between the two of them. "Well, let's get them out." he said, activating the laser cannons and letting them charge up. "I'll bore a hole with the lasers; you just keep an eye on D-Two's comm.," he reported; at least now they'd be able to do _something_ to help. "For God's sake, those kids are taking on a Radam Tekkaman in human form… I was right to call them Dangerous Boys!"

For all his grousing, though, he could tell that Aki hated this forced idleness almost as much as he did.

XIII

With his arm wrapped around Shinya's waist, pulling his brother along as he got his wind back after that near-strangulation he'd just been put through, Takaya felt the heat of Fritz's exploding senbon as they passed uncomfortably close to his back. Shifting his brother a bit, Takaya put his own body between Shinya and exploding projectiles behind them. Even in spite of the fact that he knew Shinya wouldn't be happy with him for doing it, he still had a promise to their father to keep.

He was just in time too; one of the projectiles drove itself into his back just as he had gotten Shinya out of harm's way. Throwing his brother forward so he wouldn't land on him, Takaya fell prone to the floor.

_(Takaya, you idiot!)_

"Really, Blade? Have you and Evil really given me _everything _you have?" Fritz mocked. "The, die!"

_(Shinya, get to the door!)_ he shouted over their link. _(Go, quickly!)_

_(You're not dying here!)_ Shinya snapped back, turning and heading right back for him.

Fritz kept up a barrage of deadly projectiles, and even fired a couple more of his arrows; Shinya dodged and ducked them, a look of fierce, implacable determination on his face. Takaya could respect that, _he_ would have done just the same in another situation like this, but he still worried. Neither of them had their armor now; they were as vulnerable as any normal human who'd had the misfortune to get on the wrong side of a Radam Tekkaman.

He could hear Fritz chuckling behind them, and when he looked back over his shoulder, he saw that the evil Tekkaman was standing with one of his glowing, exploding arrows at the ready.

_(Shinya! Forward!)_

Moving in synch with his brother, they managed to make it to and out the doors in front of them, letting it close just before the arrow exploded against them. He and Shinya held onto each other as they rode out the explosion, and he felt the boots of his insulated EVA suit warm slightly. He was just glad that his and Shinya's heads had been far enough away from the blast that their hair hadn't caught fire.

Free now of the threat of Fritz's insanity, something he doubted would be for very long but he was thankful for the reprieve all the same, he breathed a little easier.

_(No good out here, either,)_ Shinya groused.

He almost asked why that was, but then he looked up, and had to bite back some creative profanity: there were clusters of softly glowing Interference Spectrum crystals all along the ceiling of the hallway they were in.

"Damn it!"

Looking up at Shinya's sudden shout, Takaya was tempted to do some swearing of his own: right in front of them was one of Radam monsters. Just one, but with no way to transform, one was all that was needed. Dodging out of the way of a sudden spray of venom, he and then Shinya vaulted over the thing's head. Fortunately for them, the hallway they were in was tight enough quarters that the Radam monster couldn't follow them.

_Un_fortunately, it wasn't quite tight enough to stop the thing turning its head to spit at them as they passed; they _were_ quick enough to dodge it, but it was still more bad luck that he could have easily done without.

Their best chance of getting out of this death-trap that Fritz had made for them was to get to one of the air locks and from there to get outside. They both knew it, even without having to take the time to discus it. Which was a good thing, too, since time seemed to be in short supply right now; at least for them, which was a depressingly common situation these days.

"D-Two?"

"Aki-san, I'm glad to hear your voice again," Shinya said, with genuine relief in his voice; it was something Takaya noticed, but he kind of doubted anyone else would.

"I'm glad you're all right, too," she said, with a soft chuckle. "Noal's trying to make a way for you to get outside, but will you still keep your comm. on?"

"All right, Aki," he heard Shinya say, as he himself continued to watch their backs.

They were still moving as Shinya spoke, of course, but there was always a chance that they would be spotted.

Takaya smiled; it was good to have friends on the outside.

"We'll be in contact soon, Aki. Thank Noal for me, all right?" he heard Shinya say calmly, even as he himself kept alert for any more Radam monsters that might be trying to get the drop on them.

In this case, you could never be too careful when facing Radam monsters; this was probably how normal people felt all the time. Before Aki could say anything else, though, their infamously capricious luck turned against them once again. A pair of Radam monsters burst into the corridor where they'd been standing just four minutes before, shrieking their eerie, mindless battlecries, and skittering on their pointed legs with no feet.

Without even a word to his brother, the both of them took off running.

The Radam monster started spitting at them right away, the sticky streams of venom coming thicker and faster than they had the last time. When Shinya yelped suddenly, thankfully sounding more surprised than anything else, Takaya turned to look back over his shoulder. Shinya had been stuck to the wall by his right arm, and was trying to pull loose even as he watched.

Grabbing his younger brother by the shoulders, Takaya helped him to brace his feet against the flooring underneath them, and they both yanked as hard as they could. Shinya's arm came loose with a sound almost like cloth tearing, and both of them looked at Shinya's right arm even as they scrambled to get out of the way of the pursuing Radam monster. Nothing had been torn; a good thing, that, since they were going to be leaving the relative safety of the Orbital Ring's contained atmosphere, and Shinya had been holding his helmet in his _left_ hand.

The helmet itself was still there, but there was still an expression of mild annoyance on his brother's face.

"Damn it," Shinya muttered, as they continued on their way through the mazelike corridors of the Orbital Ring.

"What is it?"

"My comm. was under that," his brother said, rolling his eyes as they continued down the corridor at a fairly good clip. "I suppose I _won't_ be in touch with Aki soon."

"Bad luck," he groused, shaking his head in irritation.

"_Our_ luck," Shinya said.

_Finally_ they came in sight of one of the air locks, marked as it was by red letters that spelled out its designation, and it was with a profound sense of relief that he pulled Shinya through the armored doors and heard them close behind them. Falling to the floor on his hands and knees, he could just hear his brother panting from the same exhaustion that he'd only now let catch up to _him_. They didn't have much time to catch their breath, of course; there was still a Radam monster on the other side of that door, and it was only a matter of time before it managed to batter its way through.

They could both hear it trying, even then.

"Almost done," he heard Shinya say, and looked over to see his brother standing in front of the air lock's control panel.

Putting on his helmet, since he didn't want to be caught without it _when_ the air lock began to cycle open, he turned back to look at Shinya. His brother had already put a helmet on, so there was no need for him to worry about telling him to, so he just walked over and patted his brother on the shoulder.

_(Bad luck,)_ Shinya said, obviously tense as he looked from the beast-assaulted doors to the controls for the air lock.

_(Our luck,)_ he muttered, turning to watch the doors as they began to distort and buckle and warp under the battering that Radam monster was subjecting them to.

There was nothing they could do now but wait; wait to see if the air lock would cycle itself open before the Radam monster on the other side of the doors could batter them down. It wasn't looking particularly good for them, but just as the marauding Radam monster had managed to stick one of its pointed appendages through a gap it had wedged in the doors, the air lock cycled open and they were able to break out into open space at last. He'd never seen a more welcome sight than the Earth, hanging placidly "below" them.

_(Remember, Shin-chan: I'll go first,)_ he said, gripping his tekkaset like a lifeline. _(You transform once I know it's safe.)_

_(You won't change your mind?)_

_(No; I won't,)_ he said, as he loosened his grip on Shinya's hand, and his brother obligingly let him go.

_(We're going to have a talk when we get back to Headquarters,)_ Shinya groused, seeming to be glaring at nothing in particular. _(A _long_ talk.)_

_(Yeah.)_ Not that it was going to change his mind, but it was nice to be prepared in any case. "Teksetta!"

Pain. Deep physical agony. Overwhelming all other thoughts except the one: he'd kept Shinya safe, and in the end that was all that really mattered.

When the worst of the agony ended and he stopped screaming, Takaya found that Shinya had maneuvered himself directly in front of him. His brother's hands were pressed against the energy-cage that always surrounded him when he transformed, being held back only by the massive energies that were being poured into his body by the transformation that he was trying to complete. When the Blue Earth buzzed them, moving from one unknown point on the Orbital Ring to another for some reason that he couldn't even begin to guess at, he found himself and Shinya spinning slightly in the wake of their thruster exhaust.

Shinya used his thrusters to keep pace, matching the movements that Takaya had been forced to make. When a quizzical, vaguely nonplussed expression passed over his brother's face, an expression that was directed at something that seemed to be happening behind him, Takaya turned to look back over his shoulder. There were the remains of an explosion there, just starting to clear, and he even thought he could see Fritz go flying from it.

There was also something missing; it took him a few moments to realize that it was the pain of the transformation trying to force itself that he no longer quite felt. It intensified briefly, leaving him screaming in its wake, but then it seemed to stabilize. He could feel a similar flare of energy from his brother, and he was about to demand just what in the hell Shinya thought he was doing, when he realized that he didn't hear Shinya screaming.

Looking back at Shinya once the last of the coruscating energies had cleared from his vision, he found his brother in full tekka-armor looking back at him.

_(Shinya,) _he said, relief washing over him like a calming wave; he didn't feel quite up to his usual standards, but he supposed that he couldn't really expect anything better. Circumstances being what they were, he supposed he should really be grateful that he didn't fell any _worse_. He was still glad that he'd managed to spare Shinya the worst of it, though.

No matter _how_ angry his brother was with him in the end.

_(Let's go deal with Fritz,)_ Varis said, and Blade was glad for the distraction; he'd be glad for a little revenge, too.

_(Yeah.)_

They landed on the Orbital Ring together, directly in front of Fritz. He wanted to take that bastard apart one armored piece at a time, not so much for hurting _him_, though he would have been lying if he said that wasn't a part of it, but for forcing him to watch helplessly as Shinya suffered in his trap. There _was_ going to be justice for that; he'd see to it himself.

_(I will _kill_ you, you bastard!)_ he snarled.

_(I never expected the two of you to Tek Set with the help of your comrades. I suppose I must have miscalculated in my plans,)_ Fritz said, raising his bow.

A large group of Radam monsters rose up behind him after that, so the gesture must have been some sort of signal to them.

_(Shinya, dual Voltekka,)_ he said tersely, focusing on his link to his brother.

_(Right, Ta-kun.)_

As he began the charging process for his main weapon, he could almost feel Varis doing the same just beside him.

"Voltekka!"

When they let go, he had just a few moments to feel satisfaction as Fritz's Radam monsters were wiped out of existence. Then he caught sight of the Blue Earth.

She was falling down the Earth's gravity-well at a dangerous speed, beginning to trail friction flames as she hit the outermost edges of the planet's atmosphere. There was no way that Noal would be able to land safely at those speeds, and little enough chance that the Blue Earth herself would be able to survive reentry if he and Varis didn't do something. A look between them was all it took to communicate the urgency of the situation, and in seconds they were blazing through space with their very own thrusters.

Leveling off behind the Blue Earth, he watched as Varis positioned himself in front of the ship and braced his hands against her nose. Digging his own hands into the wing he had positioned himself behind, Blade fired his thrusters in concert with his brother. That Voltekka had wiped out most of his energy, true, but he couldn't ever remember feeling _this _weak after firing one.

Something had to be wrong; he had to get back inside the ship before things got out of hand.

He was just about to call out to Varis, when he saw a corona of blue energy surround his brother and dart off in the direction of the secondary air lock. _Good, he knows, too_, Blade just had time to think, before a powerful wave of dizziness washed over him and he was forced to give up his post at the Blue Earth's wing. He could only hope that she and all her passengers would be able to survive.

Once he was inside the air lock, he focused all of his remaining power into maintaining his transformed state, even in spite of the fact that doing so made him feel like he was bleeding energy into the cosmos. The sight of Shinya's comatose form on the deck in the air lock both reassured and concerned him at the same time; Shinya would get the sleep he so clearly needed, after their attack on Dagger and all that they had been through before that, but he would have been lying if he said he couldn't have used Shinya's help.

Still, Fritz was probably weak enough that it would take much more to kill him; he could hope, at least.

The cockpit doors parted for him, and he just managed to squeeze his armored shoulders through them. He hadn't given much thought to moving around inside the Blue Earth while he was transformed, but that wasn't something he was going to let himself care about. All that was important now was tracking down Fritz and killinghim, before he could think up any more of his horrible plans to spring on them.

"Return to the Orbital Ring, right now!" he said.

"What, did you leave something there?" Noal asked, even as he was forced to lean on his piloting controls in the wake of a sudden, powerful weariness. Noal was looking at him with concern plain on his face.

"I need to kill Dagger now," he said, hoping they wouldn't notice the weakness he was starting to feel in earnest. "Quickly."

"What?" Noal demanded.

Clearly neither of them understood just how dangerous it was to have a Radam Tekkaman still able to fight.

"please, while I'm still in Tekkaman form!" He pushed his face in close to the other man's.

It was crude, he knew it; trying for the kind of raw intimidation that having a determined, fully-armored Tekkaman so close to them would produce in a normal person. But if it worked, he wasn't going to let himself regret it. Better intimidated and alive, than letting Fritz murder them all at his leisure.

"It's impossible," Noal said, looking away from him. "The Blue Earth's entered the stratosphere!" Gripping the man's large collar with his armored hands, Blade found that he could almost respect Noal for standing up to him like this; _almost_, but that didn't make killing Fritz even one bit less urgent. "We'll be destroyed if we turn back!"

That wasn't important; _none _of that was important, compared to making sure that Fritz wouldn't be able to come after them again. Why couldn't they see that?! The way he was now, after what the Radam had done to him, Fritz would slaughter all of them if he was left to escape!

He screamed, as a wave of pain and disorientation, worse than the three he had felt previously, broke over him like a mirror being shattered against his skull.

He saw swirling colors; twisting lights; sparks that seemed to explode behind his eyes, and then he found himself kneeling on the floor, staring down at the pitiful remains of his shattered tekkaset. Panting with exhaustion and terror both, he turned and ran back into the air lock as fast as his feet would carry him. He had to see; he had to _know_ that all he had gone through today hadn't been for nothing in the end.

"Shinya," he muttered.

Falling to his knees beside the unconscious form of his brother, he breathed out as he saw the glitter of his brother's tekkaset. Gently turning over Shinya's hand, he sagged with relief as he saw the whole, unbroken form of his tekkaset clutched in his younger brother's grip. It was all right; he hadn't failed _entirely_… _Shinya… _god, he was tired…

The air lock darkened, tilting at a crazy angle… and then…


End file.
